Million Seller
Studio album by
The Pooh Sticks
Released1993
GenreAlternative rock, pop
LabelZoo Entertainment/BMG[1]
ProducerSteve Gregory
The Pooh Sticks chronology
The Great White Wonder
(1991)		 Million Seller
(1993)		 Optimistic Fool
(1995)

Million Seller is an album by the Welsh alternative rock band the Pooh Sticks, released in 1993.[2][3] The album was a commercial disappointment, and the band was dropped by Zoo Entertainment after its release.[4][5]

The album's first single was "The World Is Turning On".[6]

Production

Million Seller was produced by Steve Gregory, with some assistance from Jim Rondinelli.[7][8] The album cover depicts frontman Hue Williams floating on a 45 of Elvis Costello's "Accidents Will Happen".[9] As on previous albums, the Pooh Sticks incorporated titles, lyrics, and melodies to popular songs in to Million Seller's 13 tracks.[10][11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
Chicago Tribune[9]
Robert Christgau(1-star Honorable Mention)[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
The Indianapolis Star[1]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[8]

The Washington Post deemed the album "hopelessly arch, impossibly infectious pop-punk."[14] Trouser Press wrote that "with [Amelia] Fletcher’s voice sweetly balancing Hue’s, 'Let the Good Times Roll' and 'The World Is Turning On' are fabulous confections, candy-pop mountains of ABBA-rock production and witty/silly lyrics."[15] Robert Christgau considered the album to be "irony-pop gone hermeneutic—with nothing to say."[13] The State likened it to "a '90s version of Sgt. Pepper or Atom Heart Mother."[16]

Spin called the album "a desperately hummable, anxiously erotic masterpiece from a band with enough heart to make your head spin."[17] Stereo Review noted that "these Brit youngsters—rigorous pop formalists with a cutesy streak more than a mile wide—apparently see themselves as the missing link between Neil Young and Edison Lighthouse ... Few less auspicious concepts have ever been digitally preserved."[18] The Village Voice labeled Million Seller "Carole King's Tapestry done by self-conscious sugarpop punks trying to rock and roll their way out of self-consciousness."[19]

AllMusic called it "truly a classic pop record," writing: "Too polished and produced to garner alternative credibility, yet not the kind of record destined to get any mainstream exposure, Million Seller slipped between the cracks."[12]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Million Seller" 
2."Let the Good Times Roll" 
3."The World Is Turning On" 
4."Sugar Baby" 
5."I Saw the Light" 
6."Susan Sleepwalking" 
7."When the Girl Wants to Be Free" 
8."Baby Wanna Go Round with Me" 
9."Sugar Mello" 
10."Rainbow Rider" 
11."Goodbye Don't Mean I'm Gone" 
12."Jelly on a Plate" 
13."That Was the Greatest Song" 

References

  1. 1 2 Bacon, Scott (19 February 1993). "The Pooh Sticks 'Million Seller'". The Indianapolis Star. p. B4.
  2. ↑ "The Pooh Sticks Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. 6 December 2003. ISBN 9781858284576 – via Google Books.
  4. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6. MUZE. p. 589.
  5. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (26 May 1995). "Reworking a Beautiful Thing". Washington City Paper.
  6. ↑ Owens, David (30 November 2011). Cerys, Catatonia And The Rise Of Welsh Pop. Random House. ISBN 9781448116362 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Album reviews -- Million Seller by The Pooh Sticks". Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 7. 13 February 1993. p. 47.
  8. 1 2 Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 307.
  9. 1 2 Kot, Greg (14 January 1993). "Rave recordings". Chicago Tribune. Tempo. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Benarde, Scott (7 February 1993). "MILLION SELLER, by The Pooh Sticks". The Palm Beach Post. p. 3L.
  11. ↑ Pahnelas, Bill (14 February 1993). "THE POOH STICKS, 'MILLION SELLER'". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. J7.
  12. 1 2 "Million Seller - The Pooh Sticks | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  13. 1 2 "Robert Christgau: CG: The Pooh Sticks". www.robertchristgau.com.
  14. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (31 December 1993). "The Year in Rewind: Top Recordings". The Washington Post. p. N9.
  15. ↑ "Pooh Sticks". Trouser Press. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  16. ↑ Miller, Michael (5 February 1993). "New Releases". The State. p. 10D.
  17. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (December 1992). "Spins". Spin. 8 (9): 93–94.
  18. ↑ "Million Seller by The Pooh Sticks". Stereo Review. 58 (5): 90. May 1993.
  19. ↑ Levy, Joe (30 March 1993). "World of Pooh". The Village Voice. 38 (13): 67.
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