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Happy Mondays Announce Definitive 5LP Reissue of Pills N Thrills And Bellyaches
Happy Mondays will reissue Pills N Thrills And Bellyaches on August 21 as a remastered multi-format release, including a 5LP Super Deluxe with a 66-page book, live Elland Road recordings from 1991 and new remixes by Daniel Avery, Paul Oakenfold, Ewan Pearson and others.
There is a practical kind of nostalgia that lives in heavy cardboard and lacquered grooves, and Happy Mondays know it. On August 21 the band behind Kinky Afro and Step On will re-release Pills N Thrills And Bellyaches across CD, cassette, and a sprawling 5LP Super Deluxe vinyl set that tries to be more than a cash-in: it wants to be an archive.
The headline is simple: all the original audio has been remastered from the Factory Records master tapes. That alone will make collectors sit up — Factory tapes carry a specific Manchester patina, and the promise of new transfers invites the question every fan asks when a classic record is revisited: how much polish before you lose the grit?
The Super Deluxe edition is bookended by indulgence and context. It comes as a 5LP box with a 66-page hardback book containing liner notes from James Brown, who covered the scene for NME when the record first landed, alongside essays and scrapped artwork. That book, more than a sticker or a poster, is the package’s claim to being “definitive.”
Musically the set expands outward. Alongside the remastered album you get the Hallelujah and Madchester Rave On EPs, a full “Baby Baby Big Head Bootleg Album” recorded live at Elland Road on June 1, 1991, and a slate of classic and newly commissioned remixes. Names attached to the new edits read like a cross-section of contemporary tastemakers and club veterans: Daniel Avery, Paul Oakenfold, Ewan Pearson, Shadow Child and Anna Prior all appear on the remix discs.
There is momentum in the live material. The Elland Road show captures the Mondays at a specific moment — sweaty, unfiltered, and dangerously close to the rowdy choreography of Britpop’s early flirtations with rave culture. Hearing Kinky Afro and Step On crackle live, with crowd noise and detours, reminds you why the studio record felt like a transmission from a scene in motion.
Super Deluxe 5LP tracklist (remastered + extras)
Side One – Album Remastered
A1. Kinky Afro
A2. God’s Cop
A3. Donovan
A4. Grandbag’s Funeral
A5. Loose Fit
Side Two – Album Remastered
B1. Dennis And Lois
B2. Bob’s Yer Uncle
B3. Step On
B4. Holiday
B5. Harmony
Side Three – Madchester – Rave On
C1. Hallelujah
C2. Holy Ghost
C3. Clap Your Hands
C4. Rave On
Side Four – Hallelujah
D1. Hallelujah (MacColl Mix)
D2. Hallelujah (Club Mix)
D3. Rave On (Club Mix)
D4. W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix)
Side Five – Baby Bighead Bootleg (Live at Elland Road, 1991)
E1. Hallelujah (Live)
E2. Donovan (Live)
E3. Kinky Afro (Live)
Side Six – Baby Bighead Bootleg
F1. Clap Your Hands (Live)
F2. Loose Fit (Live)
F3. Holiday (Live)
F4. Rave On (Live)
Side Seven – Baby Bighead Bootleg
G1. E (Live)
G2. Tokoloshe Man (Live)
G3. Dennis And Lois (Live)
Side Eight – Baby Bighead Bootleg
H1. God’s Cop (Live)
H2. Step On (Live)
H3. Bob’s Yer Uncle (Live)
Side Nine – Remixes
I1. Step On (Stuff It In Mix)
I2. Kinky Groovy Afro Remix (12″)
I3. Loose Fit (Perfecto 12″ Mix)
I4. Tokoloshe Man
Side Ten – Remixes
J1. Hallelujah (Daniel Avery Edit)
J2. Loose Fit (Shadow Child Edit)
J3. Gods Cop (Anna Prior Edit)
J4. Step On (Paul Oakenfold Edit)
J5. Hallelujah (Ewan Pearson Remix)
For long-term fans the attractions are obvious: the remaster, the rarities, the Elland Road recordings that catch the band mid-collapse and mid-euphoria. For newer listeners there’s an argument that these extra discs map how a record like Pills N Thrills kept pulling dancefloor energy into guitar pop, a hybrid that helped define the Madchester era.
There’s a softer, sadder note to the timing. In recent weeks Shaun Ryder revealed he missed the funeral of fellow Manchester figure Mani after falling ill with pneumonia. That personal detail lands oddly next to celebratory reissues — it reminds you that the scene these records document is ageing, that archives are also memorials.
Whether the new lacquer brings clarity without sterilizing edges is the question that will run through every discussion of this release. For now the box is a promise: contextual detail, live proof, and a few new perspectives on songs that have been replayed so much they sometimes stop surprising us. Reissues rarely change the past, but every now and then they change how we listen to it.
