People Move On

Between the late 1980s and 1994, Bernard Butler served as a guitarist of Suede. Their self-titled debut studio album won the 1993 Mercury Prize; Butler left the band part-way through the recording of their second studio album, Dog Man Star, in June 1994.[1][2][3] He disliked frontman Brett Anderson's intention for being a popstar, while Anderson retorted by saying Butler was difficult to work with. In 1995, Butler began working with soul singer David McAlmont; the pair worked under the guise of McAlmont & Butler. With this, they released the single "Yes", which reached number ten in the UK. The duo split due to personal issues, prior to the release of their debut studio album, The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler, that same year.[1]

Butler spent sometime collaborating with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Neneh Cherry, and Aimee Mann, and produced Hopper's sole album, English and French (1996).[4][5] Butler was in contact with James vocalist Tim Booth, who he proceeded to work with for the latter's Booth and the Bad Angel project.[6] Butler unsuccessfully tried to convince Booth to leave James and start a band with him.[7] Butler travelled to New York City with his wife, where he stayed for two weeks. Here, he contemplated what to do with his life. Following a conversation with his wife, he decided to start a solo career proper.[8]

Butler started to learn how to sing, which became a long process for him; he made some initial demos in early 1996 that received unfavourable feedback for his vocals.[8] By March 1996, Butler was in the process of writing material for his first solo effort, tentatively expected for release by Sony LRD in early 1997. His contract with them was the result of Sony's deal with Suede's label Nude Records.[9] He had been writing using a 19th-century harmonium, as well as acoustic guitar picking.[10] By this point, he was being managed by former Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis, who restricted Butler's time spent collaborating with other artists. Working with others over the preceding two years helped him refine his song writing, and gave him insight into music as a whole.[9]

In mid 1996, Butler received a call from Richard Ashcroft's management, wondering if he would want to join Ashcroft alongside the Verve members Simon Jones and Peter Salisbury for an album. As Butler was still writing for his own album, he was interested in the offer. Three weeks had passed without any contact from Ashcroft, which prompted his manager to drop them three off at Butler's house.[8] They eventually regrouped in a rehearsal room for two days, where practiced material that would later appear on the Verve's third studio album, Urban Hymns (1997).[1][8] Butler spent a week in total as a member of the Verve, before they decided to bring back their original guitarist Nick McCabe.[1] Butler recorded instrumental demos at Mike Hedges' studio at Château de la Motte in Domfront, Normandy, France over the course of a week in October 1996 with Hedges and engineer Ian Grimble.[8][11] Butler came up with around six rough drafts of new songs; he went back to London and met up with Makoto Sakamoto.[11] Butler had previously worked with Sakamoto in McAlmont & Butler.[12] The pair wrote songs together; they would start with Butler playing an acoustic guitar, which Sakamoto would add a drum track to. They would then build the rest of the songs section by section.[13] Butler signed with Alan McGee's label Creation Records in December 1996.[4]

Shortly after the signing, Butler went to Air Studios to visit labelmates Teenage Fanclub while they were working on Songs from Northern Britain (1997). He met engineer George Shilling and enlisted him for his upcoming debut solo album.[14] Gail Colson became Butler's manager in February 1997 after being impressed by a version of "Stay".[15] Sessions for People Move On began in February 1997 at RAK Studios in London, with Butler producing the proceedings.[10][16][17] Nick Wollage, who Butler had met when working on McAlmont & Butler material, acted as recording engineer at the studio. In July 1997, Butler took a two-week break from the studio to write extra material; he had planned to start mixing during this time, but recorded four new songs instead.[17] Sessions then moved to Air Studios, with Shilling as engineer; Shilling and Wollage were assisted by Claire Lewis and Alex Seel, respectively.[16] Denise Johnson, formerly of Primal Scream, travelled to the studio from Manchester and recorded vocals over the course of one day.[18] Butler, who suggested Johnson, was aware of her from her contributions to Screamadelica (1991) by Primal Scream, who were also on Creation at the time.[19] Shilling and Butler mixed the recordings in September 1997, prior to the album being mastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road Studios, also in London, in the following month.[16][17]

Musically, the sound of People Move On has been described as pop,[20][21] rock,[20][22] and folk,[22][23] steering away from the glam-pop of Suede.[24] It has been compared to the work of Jeff Buckley, Young, and Wilco.[1] MTV's Dakota Smith referred to it as a "collection of love ballads, symphony-backed anthems, catchy pop refrains and pared-down guitars and lyrics".[1] Drawing influences from classic rock from the late 1960s and 1970s, Lucy O'Brien of The Independent wrote: "People Move On echoes the early Seventies cool rock singer/songwriting era in its heartfelt sentiment and warm, melodic approach." Though Butler has stressed that it isn't a "retro record".[25] Some songs on the record have a Spector-esque influence, which according to Mac Randall of Rolling Stone, display an "old-fashioned big-pop-production quality."[21] The album marked Butler's first attempt at singing, which Gail Worley of Ink 19 called "sweet, clear, and highly emotive".[14][26]

Butler wrote all the songs, and played a majority of the instruments.[16] He did not plan to do so initially, but as he was not interested in spending time to find competent musicians, he opted to play various instruments by himself.[15] Sakamoto did drums, and the Brilliant Strings played violin, cello, and viola on the songs "Woman I Know", "People Move On", "Autograph", "Not Alone", and "When You Grow".[16] The strings were conducted by Billy McGee, who expanded the arrangements with Butler, having previously worked with him on "Yes".[16][27] Johnson sung guest backing vocals on "Woman I Know", "People Move On", "Autograph", and "Stay". Wollage played saxophone on "Autograph" and "Not Alone", the latter featuring guest backing vocals from Edwyn Collins. Shilling added cello to "When You Grow", which also starred Richard Bissill on French horn.[16] According to Butler, most of the ideas on the album were created in the studio, with only four songs written beforehand.[28]

Butler said he had considered naming the album Girls, Girls, Girls purely for the "sleeve shot possibilities," before it was christened People Move On.[10] The opening track, the psychedelic soul of "Woman I Know" recalls the sound of All Things Must Pass (1970) by George Harrison and the work of Spiritualized, and deals with his relationship with his wife.[24][26][29] The Verve-aping of "You Just Know" sees Butler chasing artistic vision.[24][26] Butler wrote "People Move On", which was compared to After the Gold Rush (1970) by Young, about the time he sold papers in Leicester Square, London. In it, he describes the various people he saw and conversations they would be having.[30][31] "A Change of Heart" is a slower-tempo song with piano, which was reminiscent of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (1973) by Bob Dylan.[26][32] The blues rock of "Autograph" showcases Butler's guitar-playing abilities, recalling "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" (1971) by Traffic.[24][26]

The folk rock song "You Light the Fire" is done in the style of "Mood for a Day" (1971) by Yes.[24][26] Butler said it was inspired by Bert Jansch and Nick Drake, and marked his first foray into fingerpicking.[33] "Not Alone" is a 1970s-esque, Righteous Brothers-lite gospel pop track, held up by violins.[2][20] It sees Butler pondering "if it was ok to be myself, because I didn’t feel like it, because of the people I was around in the music industry". [13] "Stay" is about the difficulty associated with change, influenced by a conversation Butler had with his wife while on a train to France.[30] It opens with an acoustic guitar, followed by piano and Butler's vocals. Other instrumentation is slowly added, crecendoing, and ending with a coda.[34] The song was written on a piano while Butler was focused on making a droning sound with its bass notes.[35] "In Vain" sees the narrator recount his faults.[13] The album's closing track, "I'm Tired", was written following the McAlmont & Butler album. Butler explained: "You know when you have people around your house [...] and they won’t leave? You don’t want to be the centre of attention."[30]

In December 1997, Sony had Butler film an electronic press kit, where he performed in front of a camera operator for an hour. It was shot at a rehearsal studio on Benwell Road in London, and was ultimately scrapped.[36] The music video for "Stay" debuted on MTV's Up for It programme on 15 December 1997.[17] The track was released as the first single from Butler's forthcoming album on 5 January 1998.[37] The UK version included "Hotel Splendide" and "The Sea", while the Australian and European editions also featured a radio edit of "Stay".[38][39][40] In the 7 February 1998 issue of Billboard, People Move On was announced for release in two months' time.[41] "Not Alone" was released as the second single on 16 March 1998, with "Bye Bye" and "It's Alright" as its B-sides.[4][42] The Japanese edition of the single, released through Epic Records, included all of the tracks from "Not Alone" and the UK version of "Stay".[43] Butler held a four-date residency at the Highbury Garage in London, which was followed by an acoustic show shortly afterwards.[44] His backing band for these performances included guitarist Andy Miller of Dodgy, and keyboardist Terry Miles of Denim, bassist Chris Bowers of Hopper, and Sakamoto on drums.[12] A promotional cassette featuring three recordings from the residency subsequently appeared on an issue of NME.[45]

People Move On was released in the UK on 6 April 1998, through Creation Records; its United States release occurred on 14 April 1998, through major label Columbia Records.[4][46] Butler originally wanted a different photo taken by Jill Furmanovsky as the front cover, but was ultimately rejected.[47] Butler and his band appeared on Later... with Jools Holland on 17 April 1998, where they performed "You Just Know" and "Stay".[30] On 3 May 1998, the music video for "Stay" premiered on 120 Minutes.[17] In June 1998, Butler played a one-off show in the US, supported Pulp for a gig in the UK, and performed at T in the Park and Glastonbury Festival.[14][48] During the latter, an acoustic guitar that he wrote the majority of the album's tracks on had been stolen.[49] The shows marked the appearance of Neil Halstead of Mojave 3 as Butler's touring guitarist, replacing Miller as he was busy with Dodgy.[17] "A Change of Heart" was released as the album's third single on 15 June 1998, and included "My Domain" and "More Than I Thought" as B-sides.[50][51] Butler then embarked on a tour of the US in August and September, which was then followed by five shows in Japan.[17] In October 1998, he embarked on his first tour of the UK.[48] Some of the shows had to be rescheduled or cancelled due to Butler suffering from various illnesses.[17]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[60]
The Guardian	[61]
The Independent	[62]
Melody Maker	[63]
NME	7/10[64]
Pitchfork	5.1/10[65]
Q	[66]
Rolling Stone	[21]
The Times	[67]
Uncut	[68]

People Move On was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics.[69] Writing in 1999, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph said that the album was met with a "kind of astonished acclaim," which was "far better, quite frankly, than anyone expected."[70] The Sydney Morning Herald's Bernard Zuel said he was "prepared to like this; I was surprised to find myself loving it."[71] However, several critics picked up on Butler's vocal abilities as a point of criticism.[20][24][25][60] One reviewer felt that "his voice doesn't carry enough weight to give the songs a killer instinct."[62] In response to the criticism Butler stated: "I'm not claiming I'm a technically talented singer [...] but my voice allowed me to express a part of me I had found very difficult to express in conversation before."[72] The Telegraph writer David Cheal disagreed with other critics' views, saying he "hits all the notes and his voice has a distinctive quality."[73] Bradley Smith of Nude as the News added that Butler had a "beautiful voice -- almost angelic", as the album displays "a songwriter coming into his own".[74]

Simon Evans of the Birmingham Post highly praised the album, feeling that Butler had finally offered the "kind of high-grade solo album he always seemed capable of when he finally gave up the celebrity sessioning." Comparing the album to the last output by fellow Creation label band Oasis, he said it was the type of "tuneful, fun, album Oasis should have made after Morning Glory, until their ambitions expanded exponentially with their egos."[75] The Independent's Andy Gill alluded to the album's classic rock influences, and aside from the intermittent "ponderous moment... it is a notable, and welcome, success." He went on to say that Butler's "sheer ambition hoists most tracks to their optimum level, allowing him for the first time to be defined by his future rather than his past."[76] Montreal Mirror writer Mireille Silcott called it a "thickly varnished, highly emotive production with lightly cheesed melodics that only an Englisher can manage".[77] Terry Staunton of Uncut said for the majority of the album, the "maniacal guitar riffs" heard in Suede "take a back seat, only occasionally cutting loose and never overwhelming the innate simplicity of some elegantly persuasive songs".[78]

Reviewing the 2022 reissue, Martin Ashton of Mojo said there was a "palpable shedding of tension underpinned these 63 minutes [which] centred on the creamiest vibrato guitar since Mick Ronson". He said Butler's "callow singing [...] strained to keep up" with the quality of music; he noted that the new vocals make Butler's "soulful grain resemble a different singer".[79] Classic Rock writer Emma Johnston called it an "an ambitious collection [...] characterised by his histrionic guitar work". She went on to single out the "real star" of the reissue, referring to the new vocal version, which "brings a whole new dimension to old favourites".[80] Far Out Magazine's Eoghan Lyng said it showcases "unbridled creativity" that was "laced with splashes of distress and concern". He said that the new vocals provided not "enhancement, but conviction, and by doing so, help to validate the feelings once deemed unworthy of a movement".[13] Kieron Tyler of The Arts Desk echoed a similar sentiment, stating that Butler's vocals are "more full these days, with a presence lacking before. It is more dramatic, more muscular than in 1998".[81]

People Move On peaked at number 11 on the UK Albums Chart.[82] All three singles charted in the UK: "Stay" at number 12, "Not Alone" at number 27, and "A Change of Heart" at number 45.[83] The album was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in the UK three months after its release.[84]

All songs written and produced by Bernard Butler.[16]

Personnel per booklet.[16]

Citations

Sources

• People Move On at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)