Let's Get Killed

The second studio album was Holmes's first release in the United States, where it appeared on 1500/A&M. He made two short trips to New York to collect street sound, and the voices that run through it were recorded at St. Marks Place, in Washington Square Park, on Broadway and Lafayette, in the Bronx, on the Lower Eastside and in Alphabet City. One of them, the public astrologer Rodney Yates, gives the title of track six. Holmes told MTV in 1998 that the album is called Let's Get Killed because he and his friends were chased by eight men through the South Bronx who were after their expensive audio equipment. He added that it was a bit like fear and loathing in New York. The Guardian described it in 2003 as an imaginary film soundtrack.

Most tracks are Holmes's own. Radio 7 reworks Monty Norman's James Bond theme with Gem Archer on guitar and the London Session Orchestra, and Don't Die Just Yet remakes Serge Gainsbourg's Melody and Cargo Culte. My Mate Paul and Don't Die Just Yet both reached the UK top 40, and Gritty Shaker was a single too. The record entered the UK albums chart at 34 and fell to 75 in its second and final week.

The NME put it at number 40 in its 1997 critics poll and Melody Maker at number 24. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-minus. The Los Angeles Times called it a rich audio walking tour that stood far out from the techno crowd. It is one of the albums in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.