It’s a bit of a stretch to maintain that for such a cock-obsessed movement Britpop was somehow a great emancipator as post punk had been, but it wasn’t without it’s prominent female fronted bands and although the biggest gobs got the biggest rewards, this more than niche presence made for much more than just an interesting counterpoint.
Moreover, Elastica weren’t having yer Beatles and yer Stones (Or yer Bowies for that matter). Justine Frischmann’s departure from Suede led her to into working with Justin Welch – and indirectly a relationship with Damon Albarn – however the music the fully constituted band wrote was front foot and refreshingly lairy.
With momentum stoked over the course of nearly eighteen months by four individually and collectively brilliant singles, Elastica became the UK’s fastest selling debut album, breaking a record set by Definitely Maybe the previous year. Listening back it still has the same energy, voracious appetite and shoulder shrugging hubris, even if the quartet were never to come close to repeating any of those creative highs again. This Deluxe edition’s additional material will have been long ago coveted by industrious fans using other means, however Frischmann’s co-write with Brett Anderson See That Animal is notable at least.
It’s a bit of a stretch to say Britpop did much for equality, but that just makes it even more satisfying that Elastica remains one of it’s coolest artefacts.
You can read a full review here.
