Whirlpool (Chapterhouse album)

Whirlpool is the debut studio album by English shoegaze band Chapterhouse. It was released on 29 April 1991 by Dedicated Records.

Release
Whirlpool was released on 29 April 1991 by Dedicated Records. It spent three weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 23. "Pearl" was issued as the album's only single on 18 March 1991, reaching number 67 on the UK Singles Chart.

Cherry Red Records reissued Whirlpool in 2006 with several bonus tracks taken from Chapterhouse's EPs Freefall and Sunburst, both released in 1990, and the "Pearl" single. It also included, for the first time, printed lyrics for all of the album's songs.

The initial and subsequent runs of the Cherry Red CD reissue were pressed using a lossy master source for tracks 1 to 9, 13 and 14. The corrected version has the reference TC2159 printed on the inner CD ring. As of 2015, this was still the case, with Cherry Red reported as continuing to send out versions of the CD – now bearing the reference CDMRED304V2 – which were sourced from the lossy master, rather than the DAT, for tracks 1 to 9, 13 and 14.

Critical reception
In 2016, Pitchfork ranked Whirlpool at number 17 on its list of the 50 best shoegaze albums of all time.

Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Chapterhouse
 * Russell Barrett – bass
 * Ashley Bates – drums
 * Stephen Patman – vocals, guitar
 * Simon Rowe – guitar
 * Andrew Sherriff – vocals, guitar

Additional musicians
 * Rachel Goswell – backing vocals on "Pearl"

Production
 * Paul Adkins – recording
 * Chapterhouse – production
 * John Fryer – mixing
 * Robin Guthrie – production on "Something More", additional mixing and production on "Autosleeper"
 * Stephen Hague – additional mixing and production on "Falling Down"
 * Ralph Jezzard – production on "Breather" and "Pearl"
 * Jim Warren – recording

Design
 * Albert Tupelo – design