Happy Families (album)
| Happy Families | ||||
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| Studio album by Blancmange | ||||
| Released | 24 September 1982 | |||
| Recorded | February–August 1982 | |||
| Studio | CBS and Battery Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Synthpop, new wave | |||
| Length | 40:29 | |||
| Label | London Records | |||
| Producer | Mike Howlett | |||
| Blancmange chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Happy Families | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Melody Maker | average |
| NME | favourable |
| Smash Hits | 7/10 |
Happy Families is the debut album by British new wave synthpop duo Blancmange. Originally released in the UK in September 1982, it reached number 30 on the UK albums chart, aided by the success of the album's third single, "Living on the Ceiling", released the following month and which became Blancmange's breakthrough hit, reaching number 7 in the UK singles chart.
Initial pressings of the album in 1982 contained the original version of "Waves" – on later pressings and on the subsequent CD issues this version was replaced by the 7" single version, which had been remixed by Denis Weinrich and the band's manager John Owen Williams, and included re-recorded vocals and a string section arranged by Linton Naiff. The original version remained unavailable on any format until its inclusion on the 2012 compilation album The Very Best of Blancmange. The Canadian release of the album had a slightly rearranged running order and included a special mix of the song "Blind Vision", released as a single in May 1983 and which appeared on the group's second album Mange Tout in the UK in 1984.
In 2008 Edsel Records reissued Happy Families as a remastered and expanded version titled Happy Families... Plus. This version of the album added six bonus tracks to the original ten-track album: the extended versions of the singles "God's Kitchen", "Feel Me" and "Living on the Ceiling"; two instrumental mixes of "Feel Me"; and the instrumental track "Business Steps" (originally the B-side of "Waves"). However, Happy Families... Plus featured the 7" single versions of not just "Waves" but also "Living on the Ceiling", rather than the original album versions.
Excerpts of the songs "Living on the Ceiling" and "Sad Day" featured on one side of a flexidisc given away free with the issue of Melody Maker dated 24 April 1982. The other side of the disc featured the song "Born Every Minute" by The Passage.
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