REEF CELEBRATE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR NUMBER ONE ALBUM ‘GLOW’
Reef have announced the 25th anniversary vinyl reissue of their 1997 number one album, Glow, out on November 25th via Hassle Hindsight and available to pre-order here.
Featuring the mega-hit ‘Place Your Hands’, the album was recorded in Abbey Road, Real World Studios and LA’s legendary Sound City Studios, with producer George Drakoulias at the helm. And it’s fair to say that Glow was the point where everything that made Reef so great – the spirit, the passion, the honesty, the undiluted energy – came together. It’s the sound of a band who were never short of talent or confidence firing on every single cylinder.
“I love every album we’ve made, but Glow is the one that really encapsulates the band,” says Gary Stringer today. “It’s emotional, it’s sexy, it’s passionate, it rocks hard. It’s everything Reef should be.”
Watch the classic video below:
Place Your Hands instantly connected with the public, reaching No.6 in the UK charts and giving Reef their second Top 10 hit. One of song’s biggest champions was DJ Chris Evans, who played the song heavily on his Radio 1 show. Evans also famously invited the band to perform on his anarchic live TV show, TFI Friday, where the band blasted out a brief version for the regular reader’s letters slot, It’s Your Letters, changing the lyrics for the show, and becoming a staple part of the show for the years to come.
But far from the explosive, rock-as-gospel feel of the finished track, the original version was much more sedate. “This bassline just started pouring out of Jack (Bessant) on the spot,” recalls Stringer. “I had a very gentle vocal at first, which was in keeping with the bass, then when Kenwyn (House, guitarist) came up with the D-riff, it was like, ‘Whoah, that’s changed the whole thing, I’ve got to change up the vocal.’”
The available formats include Transparent Blue, a Glow In The Dark webstore exclusive, Transparent Red indie retail exclusive and a Transparent Yellow HMV.com exclusive. All vinyl variants come housed in a hand-numbered spined outer sleeve and include a foldout insert with fresh liner notes from Gary, in conversation with esteemed music journalist Dave Everley.
