Happiness

Happiness is the debut studio album, and second album overall, by English electronic group The Beloved, released in February 1990 in the United Kingdom by East West Records and in the United States by Atlantic Records the following month. The group's first album since slimming down from a four-piece to a duo comprising Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington in 1987, the two members moved away from their previous, New Order-styled sound and drew influence from the late 1980s rave scene in London and from Black American house music. Recorded with producers Paul Staveley O'Duffy and Martyn Phillips, Happiness exemplifies the Beloved's new house-styled dance-pop material, becoming one of the first albums to fuse house and pop music, and features optimistic lyrics that helped it fit in with the hedonism of the UK's contemporary music scene and the Second Summer of Love. Aided by four charting singles, including the group's breakthrough hit—the ambient-styled "The Sun Rising"—and their first Top 20 success in "Hello", Happiness reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart and number 154 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also received critical acclaim, and numerous magazines ranked the album among the greatest of the year. Background The Beloved began at the University of Cambridge in 1983; originally named Journey Through, they consisted of Tim Havard, Steve Waddington and vocalist and band leader Jon Marsh, with drummer Guy Gausden joining the following year. Originally drawing from psychedelic music, the group soon renamed itself to The Beloved and changed their sound to one often compared to New Order. Despite releasing several singles, the Happy Now EP and Where It Is compilation album over 1986–87, none of the band's music received notable critical or commercial success, which led to Havard and Gausden leaving the group by the end of 1987, rendering the Beloved a duo of Marsh and Waddington. The group had nonetheless signed a deal with WEA by this point, thanks to the cult success of Where It Is. Having become interested in American dance music after a trip to New York in 1987, Marsh and Waddington quickly became infatuated with the emerging rave music scene in London in 1988, and became fans of acid house.