RSD 12/4/25:
Belly's second album, King, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special vinyl pressing on Record Store Day 2025.
Belly found themselves at something of a crossroads when it came to following up their 1993 debut album Star - a wildly successful record that earned the band two GRAMMY nominations including the coveted Best New Artist award. With bassist Gail Greenwood having joined the ranks in between, she plus the trio of Tanya Donelly and brothers Chris and Tom Gorman rented a house in rural Rhode Island to write collaboratively before heading to Nassau in the Bahamas to record in Island Records founder Chris Blackwell’s legendary studio Compass Point (a place famed for where AC/DC, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, and countless others recorded major works). Away from industry pressure and guided by veteran producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who), they made the most of the relaxed surroundings, recording live in the room and minimising overdubs so to capture as much of the band’s chemistry on tape as they could.