| Velveteen | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Transvision Vamp |
| Cover: | TransvisionVamp-Velveteen.jpg |
| Released: | June 1989 |
| Recorded: | 1989 |
| Studio: | Moody Studios, Acton, London; Eastcote Studios, Kensal Road, London; The Town House, London |
| Genre: |
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| Length: | 50:10 |
| Label: | MCA |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Pop Art |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | The Complete 12"ers Collection Vol. 1 |
| Next Year: | 1990 |
Velveteen is the second studio album by English rock band Transvision Vamp, released in June 1989 by MCA Records. The album includes the single "Baby I Don't Care", which reached number 3 in the United Kingdom and Australia. Velveteen reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and number 2 in Australia, where it became the 39th best-selling album of the year.
An accompanying video album, titled The Velveteen Singles, features the videos for all four singles released from the album, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.
Hi-Fi News & Record Review praised Velveteen as "some of the best pure pop of any type in the UK today", while David Martin of Number One declared it "the best album of the year" and Transvision Vamp as "one of our most precocious young bands". Music Week reviewer Jeff Clark-Meads found the band more successful with "fast and loud" material, while noting that "there are enough tracks here with pace and raunch to carry the casual listener through the slower, limits-of-ability-defining tracks", and summarising: "Indeed, as a package the album has life, verve and muscle and will appeal to anybody who finds the band's singles attractive."[2] David Quantick, however, panned Velveteen in NME as "a heartless, brainless rummage through pop music's pockets", accusing Transvision Vamp of lacking "imagination, wit, or fun."
In the United States, Chicago Tribune critic Tom Popson wrote that "the vocal dipsy-doodle edges into overkill more than once, but just as often the band delivers arresting moments of fast-paced, trashy-toned music." The Village Voices Robert Christgau commented that lead singer Wendy James "does love-versus-sex and tragedy-of-fame almost as good as Patti now" and "should create enduring art for the next two–three years or as long as her attitude holds, whichever comes first."
All tracks written by Nick Christian Sayer, except where noted.
with:
| Peak position | |
| European Albums (Music & Media)[3] | 10 |
|---|---|
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[4] | 6 |
| Position | ||
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] | 39 | |
|---|---|---|
| European Albums (Music & Media)[6] | 77 | |
| UK Albums (Gallup)[7] | 31 |