Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

Wanting a new direction, the band chose the dance production team of Steve Osborne and Paul Oakenfold, who had just finished the Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches. Ewen Vernal said they were picked because their background was unlike anything the band had done. It was recorded at AIR Studios in London and at The Manor Studio and Outside Studios in Oxfordshire, with Paul Corkett as recording engineer, and mixed at Eden Studios in London.

The sessions were difficult. Oakenfold said he told the band they needed to go more edgy and felt they were not listening, and he lost interest as the record became more pop. Ross put Osborne's input at 75 percent and Oakenfold's at 25 percent. Graeme Kelling said the band had been trying to force themselves into another jacket.

Your Town, the lead single in November 1992, entered the UK chart at 14. Ross said it was written in the run-up to the 1992 general election as a political song. Will We Be Lovers reached 31, Only Tender Love 22 and the Hang Your Head EP 21. The album reached four in the UK, was certified Gold, reached 43 in the Netherlands and 91 in Germany, and failed to chart in the United States. NME's John Harris criticised it for playing the reinvention game in the manner of U2.

Ross dressed in silvery lurex and wraparound sunglasses for the 1993 European tour, which used a set of scaffolding and corrugated sheets. The planned autumn tour was postponed to spring 1994, and Ross recalled that by the start of 1994 it was clear it would be their last outing together.