voice but was unable to follow the lyrics. Ryder wrote his words on pieces of scrap paper and then binned them, leaving Cale unable to see if they could be improved upon. A lot of his vocal takes included ad-libs, which made it hard if they wanted to re-do a specific line, with Ryder even claiming he forgotten what he sang moments prior. After recording "Little Matchstick Owen", the band wanted to make a rap version of it, to which Pickering suggested enlisting London-based Three Wise Men. Before this came to fruition, the studio's window cleaner said he could rap, much to the surprise of the band. Mike Bleach subsequently rapped over this new version, which was then renamed to "Little Matchstick Owen's Rap". Wilson subsequently regretted having Cale as he "didn't have a fucking clue what was going on", not understanding the members themselves or their vision for the album. Ryder was the only member of the band who was aware of Cale's previous work; despite this, he did not wish to waste "weeks in some studio grafting away, fuck that". Wilson had attempted to visit the band during recording, but was unable to locate the studio. He regretted not being able to as he was subsequently disappointed with the final recordings, feeling "stunned by how incredibly lame the songs were [... it] sounded really thin and amateur". Ryder said that Cale captured "pretty much" how the band sounded during their live shows, "he didn't do much" to enhance their performances. Cale was struggling with sobriety and took to it by eating tangerines; the band complained that all Cale would do was sit around and eat the fruit. Composition and lyrics Overview Musically, the sound of Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) has been described as mixing the punk-funk of ESG with the atmosphere of Joy Division. Classic Pop Mag described its sound as "rough-around-the-edges funky post-punk." In his biography of the band, Shaun Ryder: Happy Mondays, Black Grape & Other Traumas, author Mick Middles referred to album as: "A thousand nights, drunk on funk, dull thuds and a wandering bass, [with] a wholly intoxicated [...] sound". It features many characteristics that would be further developed on the band's second studio album Bummed (1988), such as Ryder's seemingly nonsensical lyrics combined with funk rhythms. Ryder said house music was seeping into