Difference between revisions of "Discography:Six (Album)"

Latest revision as of 22:03, 16 March 2016

Six cover art

Mansun Album
Name	Six
Tracks	13
Track length	70:37
Recorded	1998
Writer/composer	Paul Draper
Producer	Paul Draper, Mark 'Spike' Stent, Mike Hunter
Alternative/Working Title	1984
Publisher	Parlophone, Epic Records
Format(s)	CD Vinyl Cassette MiniDisc
Release date	7th September 1998 (Europe) » 20th April 1999 (US)
Album Chronology
Attack of the Grey Lantern ← Six → Little Kix
EPs

Recording

Album Title

Quote from Paul about the origins of Six

	'Six' refers to Patrick McGoohan's character he created for himself in the 1960s TV show, 'The Prisoner'. His character was simply known as Number 6 and he was a prisoner in a village. Of course the album title is actually referring to myself. After all the madness of 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' hitting number 1 in the album charts this is what I'd felt I'd become; living in hotels, airports and tour buses, a prisoner of a commercial record. I wasn't going to compromise myself for the next one and it was going to be different, very different. No drum loops, no choruses, nothing remotely connected to what was going in the music scene or pop music of the day, certainly nothing commercial that would make me feel like that prisoner again. I didn't know what I wanted to achieve actually. I just knew I felt like a prisoner of the whole commercial treadmill. I felt compromised. It didn't sit right with me. My interest in 'The Prisoner' goes back to being a child, a connection of where you're at and where you're from. As a kid I moved from Liverpool to Deeside in North Wales in the 70s. We used to go out exploring North Wales and my most vivid memory is going to Portmeirion, a small town on the North Wales coast. It's an Italianate village built by the Welsh architect Clough William-Ellis. It sparked my interest in architecture at an early age. I'd seen nothing like it... As a kid I became obsessive about this place, and if you haven't been there you should go. It's so cool you have to pay to get in! 'The Prisoner' was a TV show filmed in the village itself. 'The Prisoner' was about a spy who resigned from the British authorities and someone kidnapped him and dumped him in 'The Village' where he was pumped for information about why he resigned. It was allegory for real life. As is the Six album. By coincidence Chad was reading a book of childrens verses at the time called 'Now We Are Six' by A A Milne. A A Milne lived at Cotchford Farm in East Sussex where he wrote the Winnie the Pooh books, which have some underlying Taoist philosophies. Chad's interest in Cotchford Farm came from his interest in Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, who bought Cotchford Farm in the late sixties and was found dead in the swimming pool there in 1969. The track 'Witness to a Murder Pt II' refers to the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Brian, and Chad was close with some old friends of Brian's. Now I'm trying to piece together how it all came about but it became obvious that there were too many 6's knocking around, so 'Six' it was!
—Paul Draper Six Blog

Album Cover

The album's sleeve art was a painting produced by Max Schindler, and commissioned especially for the album. It contains many references to personal interests and obsessions of the band, such as a TARDIS and an image of Tom Baker as Doctor Who, and Patrick McGoohan as Number 6 (sitting in the ball chair commonly occupied by the different Number 2's), from The Prisoner. There is also a depiction of Winnie the Pooh standing close to a painting that may be a reproduction of Vinegar tasters, a Taoist allegorical painting. Guitarist Dominic Chad is known to be both a Taoist and a fan of A. A. Milne, and the album's name is in fact a reference to Milne's book Now We Are Six.

The cover art also depicts a number of (perhaps non-existent) books, including:

• Life as a Series of Compromises by Graham Langdon
• Who On Earth is Tom Baker? by Tom Baker (the actor's autobiography)
• Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell (1984 was one of the album's working titles)
• The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade (referenced in the lyrics of "Legacy")
• The Book of Mormon (referenced in the lyrics of "Cancer")
• The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin (referenced in the lyrics of "
• People Places by Richard Rogers (referenced in the lyrics of "Anti-Everything")
• The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne (referenced in the lyrics of "Shotgun")
• Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard (referenced in the lyrics of "Negative")
• The Schizoid Man refers to an episode title of The Prisoner
• Paint It Black by Geoffrey Giuliano (a book on the death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, an important influence on Dominic Chad)
• The inlay booklet includes enlarged images of the piles of books from the cover, making it easier to read the authors and titles.

US Version

The US release of Six restructured the track listing considerably at the behest of Epic Records. The chapters and interlude were removed and the running order was rearranged with "Legacy" and "Shotgun" swapped. More significant was the omission of "Inverse Midas" and "Witness to a Murder (Part Two)" both of which were composed by Dominic Chad. The full eight-minute recording of the title track is substituted for the Arthur Baker re-recording. Small edits appear throughout the remaining track listing: the opening guitar from "Legacy", the feedback from the opening of "Negative" and the removal of silence from the end of "Cancer".

Six 10th Anniversary Blog

Tracklisting

UK Version

Part One

1. "Six" (8:07)

2. "Negative" (4:21)

3. "Shotgun" (6:38)

4. "Inverse Midas" (1:44)

5. "Anti-Everything" (2:25)

6. "Fall Out" (3:47)

7. "Serotonin" (2:33)

8. "Cancer" (9:31)

Interlude

9. "Witness to a Murder (Part Two)" (3:06)

Part Two

10. "Television" (8:21)

11. "Special / Blown It (Delete as Appropriate)" (5:32)

12. "Legacy" (6:33)

13. "Being a Girl" (7:59)

Japanese Version

14. "I Care" (Japanese only bonus track) (3:42)

US Version

1. "Six (Baker Mix)" 3:56

2. "Negative" 4:16

3. "Legacy" 6:19

4. "Anti-Everything" 2:25

5. "Fall Out" 3:47

6. "Serotonin" 2:33

7. "Cancer" 9:16

8. "Television" 8:21

9. "Special / Blown It (Delete as Appropriate)" 5:18

10. "Shotgun" 6:27

11. "Being a Girl" (8:00)

Trivia

Media Gallery

Discography Gallery

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  Promotional Display Card used in Record Shops

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  Six album cassette front cover art

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  Six album cassette

References