wanted to be more involved on Wonderland. Burgess said Saber was not receptive to this, as he only wished to work with Burgess and Collins. Saber slowly started to give Rogers respect after learning of his contributions to "You're So Pretty – We're So Pretty" and "Is It in You?". Burgess and Collins would perform over beats that Saber created; Saber or Twiggy Ramirez would play bass, and Stacy Plunk would sing additional vocals. Plunk was Saber's girlfriend and previously a backing vocalist for the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Ann Peebles. As she could sing for a variety of musical styles, the Charlatans would create melodies with her in mind. While they worked with Saber for seven weeks, Rogers said they were only able to finish five tracks with Saber before they went home. In early 2001, the band then returned to the UK to do additional production work at their own studio, Big Mushroom in Cheshire, Greater Manchester. The band and Spencer produced all of the songs; Saber is also credited producing six of them. Though Saber had promised to mix the album, it was instead mixed by Spencer at Big Mushroom. The band realised that Saber would not be able to function outside of Los Angeles, with Blunt in particular being disappointed. Burgess said with Saber absent, "some of the [audio] space began to get filled up", ending up more polished than if Saber had done it, as he would have "kept it completely stripped down". Composition and lyrics Overview Musically, Wonderland has been described as funk-soul and electronica, drawing comparison to work of John Mellencamp, Oasis and Primal Scream, particularly the latter's Give Out But Don't Give Up (1994). Burgess said it was directly influenced by Californian soul music; he added that they allowed "Los Angeles to join as a sixth member and take over the band". Neil Leeds of Drowned in Sound described it as the band's "soundtrack to an after show party", with a "effervescent theme [that] is maintained throughout, that theme being the good times". NME writer Ted Kessler called it a "great party record [...] We're talking about an ecstasy and cocaine party, to be precise" and the "various mood swings that any party fuelled by those chemicals involves". Burgess said the band had disregarded their former "church organ sound and that’s a great religious, spiritual moment for us", though it