Tracklist
The GroovesLiner Notes
Roger Chapman and the Shortlist released Hyenas Only Laugh for Fun in December 1981. Chapman's third solo studio album became a fan favourite of the early Shortlist period; “Prisoner” and the title track remained concert staples. Former Family member Poli Palmer contributed synthesizer and programming.
Album Reviews2
Reviews gathered with this release and kept on the album page rather than in the general Press Archive.
Hyenas Only Laugh for Fun — Sounds review (Germany)
Contemporary review. Willi Andresen greets the album with astonishment, presenting Chapman as a rare rock-and-roll survivor whose music still draws directly on experience rather than fashion. He hears the earthy individuality of Chappo and Mail Order Magic carried forward with greater confidence.
The key to the record, for Andresen, is the closeness between Chapman and the Shortlist. Music and lyrics move as one; the arrangements can be explosive or melodic without smothering the voice. After two years together, the band sounds tighter, the compositions more mature and the album more unified. The closing verdict is emphatic: Chapman has found his path and is nowhere near the end of it.
Turn It Up Loud — box-set review
Box-set review. This assessment follows the second major phase of Chapman’s solo career across Hyenas Only Laugh for Fun, the double live He Was… She Was… You Was… We Was…, Mango Crazy and The Shadow Knows. The review treats the set as a coherent story: the Shortlist becoming an increasingly assured vehicle for Chapman, then adapting its muscular rock foundation to the sharper production and changing textures of the mid-1980s.
The expanded live and bonus material is valued for showing how differently the songs could work onstage, while the studio sequence traces Chapman’s move from the concentrated, band-centred sound of Hyenas toward the more streamlined attack of Mango Crazy and The Shadow Knows.
All Pressings6
Every known issue, variant, reissue, and repress across all countries and formats. Identical catalogue entries with multiple Discogs listings are grouped into a single row.
Gallery6 images
Covers, labels, inserts, and press material across all pressings. Click any image to view full-size.
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