The Wannadies - Before & After

Artist: The Wannadies Title: Before & After Catalog#: AHA!063 Price: $10.00	Tracks on this CD:
	Little By Little
	Nothing Wrong
	Piss On You
	Skin
	Uri Geller
	All Over Me
	Disko
	Singalong Son
	Come With Me (Till Things Get Better)
	Happy
	Can't Stop You
	Love Letter
	+Bonus video tracks: Skin, Piss On You, Little By Little (Featuring Maurice Colon), Little By Little (Band and Friends)

Domestic issue of 2002 album by Swedish stalwarts The Wannadies (pronounced Wanna-Dyes as in "want-to-die", not Wanna-deez). "Before & After" is the 6th proper album by this fantastic band from Skellefteå, Sweden - a band rightly credited for launching the Swedish alternative rock scene. A real treasure on the Swedish pop/rock landscape on par with the country's most popular bands (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Cardigans, Kent, etc.), the quintet's closest American analog would be the Pixies - only The Wannadies have continued to release terrific records over the years!



The Wannadies released their self-titled debut album in 1990 which was followed by 1992's "Aquanautic," 1994's "Be A Girl," and 1996's "Bagsy Me." In 1997, RCA Records released a CD in the USA that combined various tracks from the band's "Be A Girl" album and "Bagsy Me" album and the band's fantastic "You And Me Song" landed on Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet soundtrack along with offerings from Radiohead, Garbage, Butthole Surfers, Cardigans, Stina Nordenstam, and others. The Wannadies are brilliant and why RCA wasn't able to make them a household name in the US is just another of life's great injustices. The band forged on in Sweden and the UK, releasing a compilation named after their hometown, Skellefteå, in 1998 and the Ric Ocasek (The Cars, Weezer, Guided By Voices, Nada Surf, Bad Brains, No Doubt, etc.) produced "Yeah" in 2000.

In 2002, the band completed their latest triumph "Before & After", an album of two halves intended for picking you up before the evening starts and helping you unwind as it closes. After being licensed recently in the UK on Cooking Vinyl Records, Hidden Agenda is now delighted to make the album available for the US market!

This 12 song CD is enhanced with 4 videos (Skin, Piss on You, Little By Little (Dance-umentary featuring Maurice Colon (aka Adam Buxton from the BBC-TV's "The Adam and Joe Show")), Little By Little (Band and Friends)) and additional material like Wds wallpaper, photos, and band bio.

"Another sunburst of perfect slinky pop." - NME

" ...bouncy, flouncy, hand-clappy perk-pop wrigglers and love-kissed Big Ballads" - NME 7/10

"Of (extreme) Northen Swedish stock, The Wannadies formed way back in 1988 based on a common passion for the same bands, be it Iggy, Bowie, the Pixies or the Go Betweens. The mid nineties saw a wave of ecstatic (critical commercial) acclaim, after which saw the band entangled in what appeared to be a seemingly non-ending stream of disputes. 'The light at the end of the tunnel' appeared at the dawn of the current millennium with the arrival of the album 'Yeah'... Three years on...having trodden the well worn path of many of their contemporaries yet surviving to tell the tale, the band are back with 'Before And After' - their sixth - and finest - full length album. Or as Pär and Christina so eloquently put it: "We decided to make the best record in the world, on our own, and then we did". Exactly. Includes the single 'Disko'. Enhanced multi-media section includes videos for 'Skin', 'Little By Little' and 'P*ss On You' as well as a photo gallery and downloadable wallpaper 'Packed with video extras - including Adam (& Joe) Buxton as interpretive dancer Maurice Colon - Before And After has value, worth and warmth." - Bang

"The Wannadies . . . didn't they do that You And Me Song? Yes, they did and I'm sure I won't be the only person approaching this album with a similarly vague yet pleasing memory of a funky punkish band who's infectious hit stuck in my mind for months and remains instantly recognizable years later. So where have they been all this time? Well, back to the drawing board according to their latest label Cooking Vinyl, who took on this, their sixth album, after they struggled to find a UK label after 2000's Yeah. After three years wandering in the wilderness they've clearly done some thinking, and this latest offering reflects a new maturity and a subtle development of ideas within the group, offering glimpses of the future mixed with a hearty helping of the past. Full of potential, and simmering with optimism, this album contains enough original ideas to be constantly engaging, but doesn't distance itself too much from the band's familiar roots, and so remains accessible to hardened fans and delighted newcomers alike. The album is divided into two halves, being obviously 'Before' and 'After'. The first half is a definitive return to the catchy, contagious pop/rock roots of Be A Girl which is bound to bring a nostalgic smile to those of us old enough to remember way back into the distant haze of the mid 90s. And if you're hoping for another helping of happy-go-lucky hooks and addictive choruses then the first two tracks Little By Little and Nothing Wrong won't disappoint, both having the potential to be instant hits in their own right. But whilst the rest of 'Before' rattles and hums like the old Wannadies, songs like Skin and Uri Gellar lack the unique zest of the band's former glory, despite being half decent tunes. Fortunately there's something of a mini revival at the end of 'Before' with All Over Me, which lets rip with a little rock reminiscence – for old times sake. The second half sounds like the product of several weeks locked away in a lonely Scandinavian log cabin with a load of hi-tech recording equipment and a variety of happiness enhancing substances. It's a much more quirky and reflective affair, which hints at new directions without straying too far from the essence of their original sound. We're instantly drawn in by the contrastingly soft and melodic opening of Disko, one of the best tracks on the whole album and a inspired introduction to The Wannadies latest groove. The whole of 'After' sounds like it was written and performed with a glimmer of mischief in their eyes . . . but essentially, it breathes new life and creativity into a band which could have so easily slipped into a cycle of wistful repetition – constantly trying to recreate the transitory triumph of the past. Again, not every track is a classic, but songs such as Come With Me and the beautifully simple Love Letter ensure that 'After' is every bit as good as 'Before' and overall gains the edge through its innovate approach and unique character. The decision (or was it indecision?) to include two distinctively different, reflective and progressive halves may not have been the most daring venture, but it certainly seems to have been a shrewd move for what is being viewed as their 'comeback' album, and appears to have paid off. Comparisons with bands like Athlete are undoubtedly deserved and favorable, the only question which remains is 'will they find their audience?' I certainly hope so. Full of that early nineties Brit-pop optimism and healthy enthusiasm, The Wannadies are back from a time before it became uncool to have fun, and sing along to your favorite songs in public. Just when you think the music industry is getting far too serious for it's own good Before And After hails a refreshing and welcome return by a band who know a thing or two about writing a toe-tapping classic." - Counter Culture

“Now 15 years into their career, The Wannadies reached a peak in 1995 with the fabulous You And Me Song. Their music has always sounded as vivid as an exclamation mark, and much of Before & After follows this fine tradition. Like Supergrass, they make urgent pop songs, and Little By Little and Nothing Wrong are among the most immediate things they’ve ever done. But singer Pär Wiksten is also impressively tetchy and, on the acerbic Piss On You, you can almost hear him frown.” – Q Magazine

“It's an idea tailor-made for a pop band that hails from a country that spends part of the year bathed in near-perpetual daylight and another part buried in permanent midnight. Before and After, the latest from Swedish power pop quintet/national treasure the Wannadies, seeing light (ha) in America now, after its initial release back in 2002, is not so much a concept album about those two Earth-tilting extremes as it is a two-part soundtrack (just look at the title, fer chrissakes) that celebrates gearing up to have fun and coming down from that high. Alright, so it's not that much of a headscratcher, fraught with symbolism or some eggheaded treatise on the Dionysian vs. the Apollonian ideals, but damned if Before and After isn't a delightful pop confection with no syrupy sweet aftertaste. Other Scandinavian bands of note lately -- the Hives, the Sounds, etc. -- have played coy with the rock press, claiming American musical influences (like the Stooges and Blondie, respectively, above) took years to hit Nordic shores as an explanation for why their "dated" sound sounds "fresh". As charming and naïve as that tale may be, it certainly doesn't apply to the Wannadies. The band has been honing their power pop vibe and Pixies-esque boy/girl harmnonies for over a decade now, and their sound is as fresh and clean and new fallen snow. On Before and After, the Wannadies are akin to musical alchemists, taking the elements most likely to rev a listener up for a night of partying -- jangly guitars, keyboards, and Christina Bergmark's honeyed backing vocals that could melt an iceberg (Note to self: Just because a band hails from Sweden, it doesn't mean I must use only cold and snow-based figures of speech) -- and distilling it all into a joyous mishmash of power pop deluxe. But unlike some current practitioners of power pop, whose music can rot one's teeth with too many listens (I love ya, Fountains of Wayne, but it's true), the Wannadies never resort to treacle. If anything, their closest American cousin is Imperial Teen, minus the homosexual underpinnings. To wit, the shuffling "Piss on You" ("You're not happy til I'm not happy", notes lead singer Pär Wiksten) and the darker, sexy "Skin", which calls to mind the Pixies' "La La Love You". It's good to hear '90s alt-rock is alive and well in 2004. Of course, much of getting ready to paint the town red -- Before's loose theme -- is all about feeling sexy and the Wannadies capture it perfectly. "Skin" notes, "I love your skin / And what's within", while "All over Me" almost literally oozes sex: "Pour all of you / All over me". Even songs that aren't about the horizontal mambo crawl all over your body, with guitarist Stefan Schonfeldt's guitar digging his guitar hooks into you, regardless of a song's topic (see the inscrutable "Uri Gellar"). If the Wannadies' goal was to get people amped-up for a night of fun with Before, then mission accomplished. It almost goes without saying that they duplicate the feat on After. The facility with which the band changes gears from celebratory to reflecting is nothing short of amazing -- and the whole time they sound just like the Wannadies. Rave-ups like those found on Before have always been the Wannadies' forte on their previous albums, but After's slower songs are no slouches either. "Disko", with its lounge-y vibe and lush strings is an immediate breath-catcher (both in terms of its beauty and its slower pace). There's no air of regret hanging over After, either; no "Boy, did I get shit-faced last night; I'm not doing that again". It's more of a decompression, where one returns to one's senses. Lead singer Wiksten would never be confused with the Kinks' Ray Davies or Blur's Damon Albarn, but on After he shares those Brits' affinity for recounting life's simple pleasures, and he's got just as big a heart as Davies or Albarn. "Singalong Son", the bass-heavy "Happy", and "Come with Me (Til Things Get Better)" are, simply put, utterly charming, gentle pop music. And Love, not Lust, rules After: Album closer "Love Letter" finds Wiksten's narrator listing all the small things his beloved does that endears her to him. Sigh. One gripe: Discs like Before and After, with their yin and yang, leave one wishing for the self-contained beauty of LPs, with their different sides of the same coin. I don't know if the act of flipping vinyl resets one's internal emotional odometer to 000, but the fact that Before and After runs through its mini mood-makers with no pause in between may be troubling to some ears. That's a minor technological hurdle -- one can always start the After part of the CD at track 7, if one so wishes -- but that cheapens the listening experience. Even something silly like the sound of a vinyl album side ending halfway through the CD, a la Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever or Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, would have been acceptable. Let the fact that the chief complaint with Before and After is with the album's format and not with the songs themselves be its own strong endorsement.” – Pop Matters

"Skin, Piss on You, and Little By Little rank as Wannadies classics." - All Music



“Now on their own label, the criminally underrated The Wannadies have set out to record the best album in the world and, you know, they may have achieved it. Avoiding fads (no they haven’t gone Noo Yawn punk funk, or become the Scandanavian Strokes) they have honed their indepowerpop chords and sensibilities, expanding it with quirky vocalisations and programming, to make this the best of its kind since, well, their own ‘Bagsy Me’. Setting out to make an album of two halves, Before and After is happy versus sad, fast versus slow. But much more than that it is full of melodies, harmonies, hooks and riffs; it is funny, witty, wry; this is downright catchy pop, with a left field indie slant. The ‘up’ side opens with Little By Little, an abrupt chord chopping pop tune, bright and chirpily rising (“C’mon just a little bit more/We’re almost there”), whilst Piss on You sounds like they may have been mimicking Madge’s Music acoustic guitar samples, and any happily righteous tune that has an addictively singalong chorus “I piss on you/I know I do” deserves to go top 10, and Skin is indie powerchords rising wiht a pounding drumbeat over a simple ode to love (“I love your skin/And what’s within”). Whilst the Before side seems like love in its first glow the After side feels more like waking up out of the love haze and, well, ….the Singalong Song (“Someone to pick you up/Someone to bring you down”), is filled with laconic horn stabs, reggae type bass, and is a wonderfully lazy tune, drifting along in a psychedelic Beatlesy way, whilst the ending Love Letter, could be a dear john or a suicide note to love. As well as some terrific tunes, the CD comes packed with other goodies, including three videos to Skin, Piss on You, Little By Little, which are all well worth watching. This is a wonderful and refreshing indiepop antidote to the faux rockers about the scene at the moment and I, for one, am glad to see The Wannadies back. Thank fuck that someone somewhere is clinging to their own dreams and not re-enacting someone else’s. All I can say is, long live The Wannadies!” – SoundsXP.com

"Three years after their last release 'Yeah' and their split from a major record label, the Wannadies release their latest album 'Before & After'. Split into two distinctive halves on the basis of 'ying - yang' the album is the product of a complete stripping down and rebuilding of their vintage and modern studio technology. Whilst the first section sticks to the blueprint of old they retain that fresh sound. 'Little by Little' is the perfect conveyor to demonstrate Christina Bergmark's keyboard skills and the progressing guitar sounds of the Wannadies of old. 'Skin' is perhaps the standout track of the whole album, a sure fire single with an adrenaline-fuelled chorus and Per's slapstick vocals. Elsewhere 'Piss on You' is a dangerous foray delving into angst-ridden friendships. Experimenting with a greater range of sound 'Disko' is placed at the other side of the boundary within the album. Kicking off with Motown drumming and Rickenbacker guitars the keyboard sounds become very annoying but the interchange between Christina + Per's vocals make up for that. The harmonious 'Come with me (Till Things get better)' relies on the 'ba ba ba' trademark of the Wannadies trademark but the verses highlight the extraordinary development of Per's vocal abilities. The road to the Wannadies music making that has always been effortlessly excellent turns a junction with a large soundscape on the horizon. With the hybrid of new and old sounds, the Wannadies have found themselves with a terrific album." - Sound Generator

"I’ve always had an uncharacteristic soft spot for The Wannadies. Since they disappeared a few years ago, I’ve been hoping they hadn’t given up and got proper jobs. As it turns out, times have been hard for the band since the glory days of Be A Girl and You & Me Song. Elbowed by RCA after 2000’s rocky Yeah album, they apparently struggled to find a new UK label, meaning a full year between Before & After’s Swedish and British releases. Happily, judging from opener Little By Little, their problems seem to have barely shaken them. Their trademark cutey-pie punkishness is still undiminished. Nothing Wrong has a chorus every bit as big as that song and single Skin sounds like The Go-Betweens covering Debaser... Good as they are, these tracks could easily have come from Be A Girl or its follow-up Bagsy Me. Why did the band not have a re-think during their wilderness period? Why, after all this time, do they still sound like The Pixies augmented by their dad’s old Casio? The second half of the album (the ‘after’ bit) explains what they’ve bit up to these last few years – fiddling with Pro Tools, by the sound of it. An uncharacteristically programmed set of songs, it peaks early with the magnificent single Disko, which sounds like Peter Hook disrupting a St Etienne rehearsal. Throughout, Christina Bergmark’s keyboards and melodica are more prominent than usual and the noisy guitars are locked in the cupboard... The highlights, like Come With Me (Till Things Get Better) and Love Letter, are lovely cosy little things..." -BBC

"Great, poppy Scandinavian rock with a load of emotion and a bit of an edge – what more could you want?" - Contact Music

"Sweden seems to be all sensible cars, modular furniture, statuesque blondes and emotionally-remote-yet-irresistibly-catchy pop music. All, that is, except the Wannadies, the supersweet Skelleftea new-wave quintet who run right up to you, grab you by the throat and scream, "Love me!" The words "cute" and "silly" do exist in the Swedish language ("sot" and "enfaldig", if you're keeping score), but it's doubtful that they get much use in Thor's icy kingdom. Even the Cardigans, probably the 'Dies' closest competition, come off as a little aloof. The Wannadies are a more immediate experience than the bulk of their countrymen; they let you in a little more. There's isn't sleek European robopop; it's a little bit risky, a little bit naughty and chock full of dirty, smudgy little lyrics like "I feel so good when you're bad." Before & After, originally released in Europe in 2002, gets its long-overdue North American release in this extra-filled re-issue. The record is teamed with a collection of amusing music videos, including a hilarious/disturbing "dance-umentary" featuring interpretive dancer Maurice Colon (BBC-TV's Adam Buxton), history's first successful Corey Feldman/Fabio gene-splice. Musically, it's the Cars as played by the Muppets -- the Hot Wheels Cars, if you will -- which is handy, as Ric Ocasek actually produced their last album, 2000's Yeah. Leadoff track "Little By Little" is highly addictive, offering a plate of irony-free Pulp-y goodness. Exploratory surgery will be required to dislodge the hooks from your cerebral cortex. Even their idea of anger is delicious: "Piss on You", a track detailing their creative struggles with record labels, still sounds like rainbows. And puppies. And pinwheels. Oh my. The album's best bits lie in its first half, except perhaps "Singalong Son", which is all of your favorite Beatles songs, all at once only better, because this time they're innocently tricked out with glitter, macaroni and felt. A good Beatles rip-off is hard to do, but when it's this summery, shimmery and all-around Fabtastic, who the hell needs Norwegian wood?" - Splendid E-zine

Of all the non-aligned nations, Sweden has perhaps the most illustrious history of exporting fun, lightweight, and fairly dumb pop/rock. Abba, The Hives, Roxette, The Cardigans, Soundtrack of our Lives – they’re all Swedes. Even if you’re unfamiliar with their music, you can go ahead and add The Wannadies to that list because when someone finally writes The Big Book of Swedish Pop Music, they’re bound to have a pretty fat chapter all to themselves.

Before and After is The Wannadies’ sixth LP since 1990, although American listeners didn’t hear much from them until “You and Me” was placed on the flashy soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s equally flashy remake of Romeo + Juliet – to be honest, we haven’t heard much since then, either. While they’ve by and large flown under the radar Stateside, they’ve turned out some of the most fun and accessible guitar pop of the last decade, even if most of their albums haven’t made it across the Atlantic. Since pop has a fickle audience and a dwindling mass appeal, the band never quite got over the mainstream hump, and they found itself without a record deal following 1999’s Yeah (RCA). With no label pulling their strings, they decided to build a studio and make their own album, and their pride in creating something that’s truly their own shows in every thread of the new album.

The album is predictably divided into two sections , “Before” and “After,” with the spazzed-out power pop mostly confined to “Before” and the somewhat mellower material composing the second half. “I like rock but you give me the blues,” Par Wiksten sings on the upbeat kiss-off number “Piss on You.” Sure, the lyrics can get a little hokey, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from our Scandinavian friends. The focus is the music, and that’s where all the fun is. The first half of the album floats along on a jet-stream of synthesizers, hand claps, “oh yeah”s and chunky, Weezerific guitars. The “After” portion of the album kicks off with “Disko,” which doesn’t exactly bring it down that much, but the presence of a Cure/New Order-esque guitar lead does suggest that the band heads down a slightly different path. Lo and behold, by “Can’t Stop You,” it’s practically in Coldplay territory, minus the dire gravity that Chris Martin and company tend to project.

For this American release (the original LP was released overseas more than a year ago), the band has added some bonus video material, including clever, artful visits with “Skin” and “Piss on You,” and an utterly hysterical “danceumentary” take on “Little by Little.” Ultimately, Before and After is a collection of lightweight, fluffy pop that’s not always memorable (the songs start to blend together by the last third of the album) but fun, nonetheless, and well worth your music dollar if you’re a diehard power-pop fanatic.

Fans of Imperial Teen and the Pixies can kiss the winter blues away with this infectious, immediate, 12-song collection, the sixth from one of Sweden 's most treasured pop-rock combos. Released two years ago in the UK , the album's only now coming out domestically. Driving guitars and fun rhythms fuel some of the catchiest tunes you're likely to hear in 2004. In a parallel universe somewhere (say, Scandinavia) Wannadies songs such as “Skin,” “Little By Little” and “Piss On You,” from the disc's “Before” section, are huge hits. It's time America gave in and embraced the band.

Even on the more subdued “After” songs (tracks 7-12), such as “Come With Me (Till Things Get Better),” the quintet can't help sneaking in a title like “Happy,” despite the song's relaxed tempo and mood. On the quietest moment in the song “Happy,” Pär Wiksten whispers, “Shh ... listen,” and you can almost hear snow fall. No less special is “Can't Stop You,” a gorgeous song in the Brit-pop tradition, and “Love Letter.” Before & After also features enhanced content that includes four videos as charming as the band and its music. Get that grump off your back already, or the Wannadies will wipe a smile on your face. These folks could melt even the most arctic heart.

from Mundane Sounds:

Sweden's The Wannadies have made a terrific little record. Though Before & After came out way back in 2002, it's just now making its domestic appearance now, but that's okay, it was worth the wait, because it's taken a little while for the American Indie Rock Listener to open up and appreciate the nuances of Swedish rock. For Before & After, The Wannadies have tapped into the two dominant aspects of Swedish music: soft, smooth electropop and crunchy garage-rock.

To make their new record more interesting, they initially planned for it to be a double album; one album was to have been "Before," which would consist of upbeat, rocking numbers, to capture the mood of a party on Saturday night. The second album, "After," was to have been a mellower, more romantic record, consisting of soft, soothing and arousing pop, for life after the party, when it's just you and your beloved. Though it didn't quite work out that way, it's an interesting concept, to say the least, and they kept the 'before' and 'after' division.

"Before" kicks off with "Little By Little," a nice stab of new-wave laced indie-pop. I'm really fond of the combo of synths and rock and boy/girl vocals. It sounds really good, and it sets the tone for the other five songs in the "Before" section. Though occasionally Pixies comparisons could be made---most notably on "Skin," with its "Velouria"-esque guitar riffs and Kim Deal-like oohs and aahs--The Wannadies have struck upon a sound that's really, truly their own. I like the down and dirty good-time aspect of "Before," and songs like "Uri Geller" and "All Over Me" are really good pop-rock.

"After," though, is the exact opposite of "Before," and if you didn't know any better, you could easily be forgiven for not knowing that this was the same band. The funtime's over, now it's time for lovin', and they've provided a nice, albeit terribly brief, soundtrack for, um, twenty minutes of woo. Though it stands in direct contrast with "Before," and though it may be a bit of a drag after the first six songs, "After" is a rather nice change of pace. Sounding not unlike the Cardigans, songs like "Can't Stop You" and "Come With Me (Til Things Get Better)" remind me of an indie-pop take on Marvin Gaye's classic post-dance album, I Want You. But the Wannadies are not Marvin Gaye, but their lush pop is still pretty good.

Does the split concept work? Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that it highlights the Wannadies' talents for songwriting, but no in the sense that Before & After promises a greatness that's never fully delivered. After hearing "Before," I want to hear more songs like "Before," and the same goes for "After." Though there's only a limited taste of their true talents to be found here, it's still a nice highlight, even if it doesn't touch the surface of what they can do. If anything, it makes you want to hear more Wannadies, and considering Before & After has arrived so late in the game, here's hoping that their follow-up album comes quickly, because if this album has done anything, it's shown that their follow-up album--which could go two ways--is something to look forward to.

Direct from The Wannadies' website
www.thewannadies.com

After having gone down the major lable route, we sat down and discussed how we wanted things to be done in the future. We agreed that the real fun is when you come up with great ideas and then realise them yourself, from start to finish. Yourself, in this case, also meant involving good friends to help us.

We helped Nille Perned, whom we've worked with on two previous albums, to build a studio. It was supposed to take a couple of months - it took us almost a year. We tried our ways with new technology - and old. We learned stuff and found a lot of truths about how things are supposed to be done, truths which were thrown away as we shouted There are no rules!!

Ideas for songs started to turn into actual songs. We played them for lovely/mad/fantastic video director Garth Jennings (also made the Hit, Shorty and Big Fan videos) and ace art director X-Lars Sundh (he is behind all Wds artwork since -94), who both started to shower us with ideas about videos and sleeves.

It started to sparkle.

We knew that we wanted to release the album on our own label, intRecords, but realised as well that it would be good to cooperate with some company that had a good, working distribution, and who could help us with promotion and stuff. We played some songs for a few interested partners-to-be and finally decided to release the album in Scandinavia through the Swedish record company National and in the rest of the world through UK company Cooking Vinyl and it's associates.

Early on we had the idea to make the album in two halves, happy versus sad, fast versus slow, or whatever - It was called Before & After.

We decided to make the best record in the world, on our own, and then we did.