Sulk

Sulk was released in the UK on May 14, 1982 and in the US, on Sire, on October 4 with a different track list. The band and Mike Hedges produced it at Playground Studios, the Camden Town warehouse studio Hedges had built, and it was written in the same sessions as much of Fourth Drawer Down. The sessions often ran about 16 hours. According to Classic Pop, Rankine played most of the instruments, the drums were overdubbed later with snares replacing toms, the electronics were played without a sequencer, and a Synclavier supplied the strings on the Club Country intro. The final mix was at Roundhouse Studios, where Rankine burst into tears.

Michael Dempsey told the Electricity Club that Hedges's biggest contribution was indulgence, that they often recorded at half speed so parts sound tight at normal speed, and that no definitive master tape of Sulk survives. MacKenzie's own description of what he wanted, according to Classic Pop, was ABBA meets Bet Lynch on acid. The band lodged at the Swiss Cottage Holiday Inn, with an extra room for MacKenzie's whippets, and Rankine says there has been no exaggeration about what went on.

The writing credits are Rankine and MacKenzie, except Skipping, with Dempsey. The sleeve was photographed and designed by Peter Ashworth in an out-of-season summer house in South London, with Rankine pulling a deliberately mental face; a digitized version is held by the National Portrait Gallery.

Reception and reissues

Melody Maker's Ian Pye in 1982 heard an almost timeless majesty, and NME's Paul Morley wrote that sometimes Sulk is simply enormous and then again fantastically unlikely. Mojo called it their florid, hysterical masterpiece in 2000, and AllMusic's Ned Raggett a messy but wonderful triumph. Uncut's Alastair McKay, in 2016, called it an unfinished cathedral rather than a flawless masterpiece, and Rankine himself said it is a flawed masterpiece. The Quietus's Joseph Burnett in 2012 called it one of the greatest albums of that or any decade.

A V2 remaster in 2000 restored the UK order, with Party Fears Two edited to 5:11 and Club Country to 4:48, and seven bonus tracks. BMG issued a deluxe two-CD and LP edition on May 6, 2016, and a 40th anniversary box in 2022 with outtakes, a demo of Party Fears Two when it was called I Never Will, and ten unreleased live tracks recorded in the Netherlands; Simon Reynolds wrote the notes.