Happiness in Magazines

Happiness in Magazines is the fifth solo album by Graham Coxon. It was produced by Stephen Street who also produced Blur's first five albums and is Coxon's most commercially successful album to date. Happiness in Magazines reached 19 in the UK Albums chart and was certified Gold.

Happiness in Magazines
Studio album by Graham Coxon
Released	17 May 2004 (2004-05-17)
Genre	Indie rock alternative rock garage punk
Length	45:01
Label	Transcopic, Parlophone
Producer	Stephen Street
Graham Coxon chronology
The Kiss of Morning (2002) Happiness in Magazines (2004) Love Travels at Illegal Speeds (2006)
Singles from Happiness in Magazines
"Freakin' Out" Released: 8 March 2004 "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery" Released: 3 May 2004 "Spectacular" Released: 28 July 2004 "Freakin' Out / All Over Me" Released: 25 October 2004

Production

Happiness in Magazines was produced by Stephen Street, accompanied by engineer Cenzo Townshend. It was then mastered by Bunt Stafford-Clark at Townhouse Studios in London. The artwork was designed by Alex Hutchinson, with images provided by Coxon.^[1] Alongside Coxon, other musicians contributed to the recordings: organ and piano on "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery", "All Over Me", "Hopeless Friend", "Are You Ready?", "Bottom Bunk", and "Ribbons and Leaves" by Louis Vause; backing vocals on "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery" and "Don't Be a Stranger", and marimba on "Don't Be a Stranger" by Angie Pollock; strings on "All Over Me", "Hopeless Friend", and "Are You Ready?" by the Duke Street Quartet; French horns on "Ribbons and Leaves" by Marcus Bates, Pip Eastop, and Phillip Woods. John Metcalf arranged the strings and horns parts that the Duke Street Quartet, Bates, Eastop, and Woods played.^[2]

Singles

Four singles have been released from Happiness in Magazines.

• "Freakin' Out", released 8 March 2004 - charted at #37
• "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery", released 3 May 2004 - charted at #22
• "Spectacular", released 26 July 2004 - charted at #32
• "Freakin' Out" / "All Over Me", released 25 October 2004 - charted at #19

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Pitchfork	7.5/10[5]
PopMatters	7/10[6]
Q	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[9]
Uncut	[10]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[11]

Happiness in Magazines was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 23 reviews.^[3]

Track listing

All lyrics and music written by Graham Coxon.^[1]

1. "Spectacular" – 2:48
2. "No Good Time" – 3:21
3. "Girl Done Gone" – 3:57
4. "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery" – 4:53
5. "All Over Me" – 4:16
6. "Freakin' Out" – 3:42
7. "People of the Earth" – 3:04
8. "Hopeless Friend" – 3:22
9. "Are You Ready?" – 4:42
10. "Bottom Bunk" – 3:16
11. "Don't Be a Stranger" – 3:29
12. "Ribbons and Leaves" – 4:11

Personnel

Personnel per booklet and sleeve.^[1][2]

Musicians Graham Coxon – performer Louis Vause – organ (tracks 4, 5, 8–10 and 12), piano (tracks 4, 5, 8–10 and 12) Angie Pollock – backing vocals (tracks 4 and 11), marimba (track 11) The Duke Street Quartet – strings (tracks 5, 8 and 9) John Metcalf – stringer arranger (tracks 5, 8 and 9), horns arranger (track 12) Marcus Bates – French horns (track 12) Pip Eastop – French horns (track 12) Phillip Woods – French horns (track 12)

Production and design Stephen Street – producer Cenzo Townshend – engineer Bunt Stafford-Clark – mastering Graham Coxon – images Alex Hutchinson – design