Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Happy Mondays. It was produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne at Eden Studios in London and was released in 1990 by Factory Records.

Release

Cover artwork by Central Station Design. The original album cover consisted of a montage of popular children's sweet wrappers. This was changed following objections from the U.S. manufacturers, resulting in the new, somewhat plainer album cover.

In November 2007, the album was re-released by Rhino Records with extra tracks and a DVD of music videos.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau cited "Grandbag's Funeral" and "Kinky Afro" as highlights and was more impressed by the band's rock music on the album: "their Voidoids is hotter than their 'dance music'". He later gave it a two-star honorable mention, indicating a "likable effort that consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy." In a less enthusiastic review, Bob Mack of Entertainment Weekly said that apart from "Step On" and "Donovan", the album shows that the band is less interesting than their Madchester contemporaries and do not warrant comparisons to The Rolling Stones.Simon Reynolds, writing in The New York Times, called it a "perplexing mishmash" that can alienate listeners outside of Manchester's rave scene.