Album · The Lightning Seeds
Sense by The Lightning Seeds
Sense is an album by The Lightning Seeds, released in 1992. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 8 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “The Life of Riley”, on 7 lists with a best position of #42.
Sense, the Lightning Seeds' second album, came out on Virgin in 1992, and it's still very much Ian Broudie's private laboratory. The Liverpool veteran of Big in Japan, Care and Original Mirrors had launched the group in 1989 as a studio project, and he produced this one with Simon Rogers, piling on the gloss until the bright pop-rock of the debut went soft-focus, all liquid melody and blurred edges. Trouser Press called it a disgruntled production extravaganza and a strange achievement, if not an unpleasant one.
The songs are what carry it. "The Life of Riley", written for Broudie's son Riley, is as sunny as a tune gets, and an instrumental take later soundtracked the highlights on BBC's Match of the Day. The title track came out of Broudie's long partnership with the Specials' Terry Hall, who cut his own version in 1994. The album reached No. 50 in the UK, and the touring band only took shape after Jollification.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Sense on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Life of Riley | 7 | #42 | – | 1992–2003 | |
| 2 | Blowing Bubbles | 1 | #1458 | – | 2002 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.