Final Straw

A&R man Jim Chancellor wanted a bigger, bolder rock record; he, Lee and the band picked 15 songs from 24. Lee pushed simplifying the songs and adding strings, and Lightbody credits learning to write a chorus as key; the lyrics, all his, are about failing relationships. Lightbody told Hot Press that they had six weeks, which he thought too long. Strings are by James Banbury, Bruce White and Fiona McCapra, Iain Archer sings backing vocals on "Same", Chris Lord-Alge and Mike Nelson mixed it, and Connolly joined during the sessions after demoing was done. The 2004 UK re-release added two bonus tracks, and the 20th anniversary edition on August 4, 2023 added 23.

It reached 3 in the UK, 9 in Ireland and 91 on the Billboard 200. Metacritic scored it 73: Pitchfork 6.7, AllMusic, Blender, Q and Uncut 4 of 5, the Guardian 3, Rolling Stone 2, Hot Press 9 of 10. The A.V. Club said it hits its stride hard enough to render most sonic analogies only marginally useful. Singles were "Spitting Games", "Run", "Chocolate" and "How to Be Dead".