Neapolitan | |
|---|---|
| Creators | Milkshake Moustache |
| Genre | Rock |
| Year | 1976 |
| Tracks | 12 |
| Length | 41:24 |
Neapolitan
Background
Neapolitan was the third studio album produced by Milkshake Moustache. It was released in 1976, only a year after their previous LP. Now the band were fully professional, touring musicians, they had enough time and money to produce their latest album within a year. It was Julie Treem who came up with the title, Neapolitan. The word Neapolitan is a word used for ice cream of three flavours. She felt the word worked perfectly for a band with three members working on their third album together. Recording started straight after the release and promotion of Swirls. Much like their previous album, the band would meet at their local pub, The Barley Mow, along with their new writing partner, Bill Brookes, whom they met at the same pub a year before. Together they would collaborate on song ideas and themes, with each of them then going away separately to write the songs.
One of the most popular songs on the song, was their summer rock hit, In A Heatwave. It was Scott who wrote the song about one of his young romances. He described the sunny weather and cloudless skies whenever his love was around with him. The song was written in the winter of 1975, but became a huge success in the summer of 1976 when the UK was in the grips of the hottest weather since records began. Fans, and the general public alike, loved the song and enjoyed playing it while trying not to melt in the blistering sun of the summer that year.
Album Art
As both Julie and Debbie were big animal lovers, they were ecstatic to have a trip down to Paignton Zoo in Devon. The journey was to take photographs of a zebra for the album cover. The Neapolitan ice cream denotes three colours of pink, cream, and brown. The initial idea was to dye the zebra at the zoo the three colours they wanted for the photos. The zoo hadn’t been notified of their idea, so flatly refused. Especially as a zoo inspector was due in a couple of weeks. Once they met the zebra, the band didn’t like the idea either and the whole idea was scrapped.
The photographer still got all the photos they needed for the cover. The zebra in the photo that was used was called Stallion and was the oldest male in the herd. Back at base, at Dekaf HQ, an in house artist painted the negatives of the photo to give the zebra it’s distinctive coloured stripes. Sadly for the band, on the release of promo records, local animal rights groups called for a boycott of the band. Milkshake Moustache told them at the time that the whole effect was done with photography. The animal groups were satisfied by their answer, but the band still put a small note on the inside liner notes of the album just in case.
Track Listing
Three Flavours – 3:21
Play Your Cards Right – 2:10
In A Jam – 4:42
Exposé – 1:59
Shivers – 4:32
Landed In My Life – 3:48
The Start of Something? – 5:56
Let Me Out – 2:38
Little Whispers Sound Loud – 3:20
Don’t Try and Stop Me – 1:46
In A Heatwave – 3:11
Join the Rock Band Union – 4:01