Baby's Got a Gun

Baby's Got a Gun is the third and final studio album by the English rock band the Only Ones, released in 1980 by CBS Records in Europe and on Epic Records in America and Japan.

Following the continued lack of commercial success with their previous studio album Even Serpents Shine (1979), and having self-produced both of their studio albums up until that point, it was decided that it was time for a slight change of pace in the Only Ones' career. In an attempt to give their music a more contemporary sound, they joined forces with record producer Colin Thurston, best known for his work with Duran Duran, Talk Talk, the Human League, Kajagoogoo, and Bow Wow Wow. 

Guesting on the album would be Penetration's lead vocalist Pauline Murray, who sang a duet with Peter Perrett on the Johnny Duncan cover song "Fools", and also provided backing vocals for "Me and My Shadow". The album marked the only time that the band had released a cover version with the aforementioned "Fools", which was later released as a single, and Baby's Got a Gun also marked the only time that a guitarist other than the band members Perrett and John Perry had been credited, with Barrie Evans providing rhythm guitar, in addition to playing percussion. Koulla Kakoulli who had sung backing vocals on the band's first two studio albums also returns, making her the only unofficial member of the band to be on all of their albums.

The album peaked at No. 37 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their best selling studio album.

In the summer of 1980, the Only Ones were the opening act for the Who on their tour of the United States, and in 1982 the band officially disbanded.

Baby's Got a Gun was re-released on CD in Europe in 2009 on Sony Music Entertainment. The original album is digitally remastered from the original half-inch mix tapes with three additional tracks, including the title track which hadn't been released on the original album.

Critical reception 

In his consumer guide for the Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ and commented that "Prepunk and for that matter prepub, Peter Perrett may well have been an only one and he fits in now only because this is such a tolerant and/or commercially desperate time. He's not 'power pop', of course – on record, at least, power's got nothing to do with it."

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, critic Mark Deming wrote that "Baby's Got a Gun is clearly the weakest of the Only Ones' three original albums, but for all its faults there's plenty here that testifies to the band's strengths; "Why Don't You Kill Yourself", "Strange Mouth", and "The Big Sleep" are splendid songs that show the band still had the goods and "Trouble in the World" and "The Happy Pilgrim" confirm they could reach for a poppier sound without losing their personality in the process."

Track listing

Personnel 
Credits are adapted from Baby's Got a Gun liner notes.

The Only Ones
 Peter Perrett – lead and background vocals; guitars
 John Perry – guitars; grand piano; organ
 Alan Mair – bass guitars; lead vocals on "My Way Out of Here"
 Mike Kellie – drums

Session musicians
 Pauline Murray – co-lead vocals on "Fools"; backing vocals on "Me and My Shadow"
 Barrie Evans – rhythm guitar; percussion
 Koulla Kakoulli – backing vocals

Production
 Colin Thurston – producer; engineer
 The Only Ones – producer
 Robert Ash – vocal engineer
 Kevin Metcalfe – mastering engineer

Charts

References

External links 
 

1980 albums
The Only Ones albums
Albums produced by Colin Thurston
Epic Records albums