Spilt Milk is the second and last studio album by American rock band Jellyfish, released on February 9, 1993, by Charisma Records. It features a harsher and more ornate sound than their previous, Bellybutton (1990). As with Bellybutton, Spilt Milk was written and co-produced by founding members Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning. Albhy Galuten and Jack Joseph Puig also returned as producers.
Named for the hard work and turmoil surrounding its making, Spilt Milk was recorded after the departure of bassist Chris Manning (who was replaced by Tim Smith) and lead guitarist Jason Falkner. Guitar duties were instead handled by session musicians Jon Brion and Lyle Workman. Production lasted several months due to the record's complicated orchestrations, and ultimately ran over-budget.
The album was supported with a yearlong tour that introduced guitarist Eric Dover into the band's line-up. Spilt Milk performed below commercial expectations, peaking at number 164 on the Billboard 200 and number 21 on the UK Albums Chart. Singles "The Ghost at Number One" and "New Mistake" charted at numbers 43 and 55 in the UK, respectively. An expanded deluxe edition of the album was released by Omnivore Recordings in 2015.
Background
During the yearlong promotional tour for the band's debut Bellybutton, tensions arose amongst the band members. The band's bassist Chris Manning left the group at the end of the tour to pursue a quieter life as a producer. The band's lead guitarist Jason Falkner had grown increasingly frustrated with having his songwriting contributions ignored by Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning. He left the group after the tour. In regards to his departure, Falkner recalled being diagnosed with an ulcer due to his deteriorating relationship with Sturmer.
After the tour, Manning and Sturmer collaborated with Ringo Starr for his 1992 solo album Time Takes Time. They were then invited to work with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Wilson and Jellyfish only had one songwriting session that was unproductive. Manning described the experience as "utterly surreal". After their sessions with Starr and Wilson, the band was dedicated to making their next album "their masterpiece".
Production
The songs were written in Los Angeles between October 1991 and March 1992. Manning would go over to Sturmer's home to work on the album for eight hours a day, six days a week. Production lasted from April to September 1992; recording sessions used massed choirs, strings, brass, flutes, wind chimes, harpsichords and other instruments. The album was produced by the same producers as their debut, Albhy Galuten (of Bee Gees fame) and Jack Joseph Puig alongside Manning and Sturmer themselves. Also featured on the album were guitarists Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, Lyle Workman, and Jon Brion (who soon formed the Grays with Falkner). Friend Andy Zax wrote of an anecdote in which he met Manning for a late-night meal at a delicatessen, only for Manning to excuse himself "back to the studio because everyone was still there working. It was 3AM." Sturmer remembered: "Once I literally passed out doing a vocal and woke up in the next room. Making this record was like that Army commercial: 'The toughest job you'll ever love.'"
In reference to the band's influences on Spilt Milk, Sturmer denied that they were "over-the-top, like we have somehow created A Night at the Opera Part 2 or something, or Pet Sounds." Referencing comparisons to the Beach Boys on "The Ghost at Number One", Manning stated: "The Beach Boys would never have done it that way, with really hard verses surrounding it and a banjo at the end of the song. We really take pride in exploring the arrangements. Our strength is in incorporating a lot of different things and twisting them in a way that they haven't been twisted before. Music critic Jon Pareles offered that the band distinguished itself from their influences by adding "a fondness for excess: more sudden shifts, pushier drums and guitars, more bursts of vocal harmony. ... The idea is to cram the music with ideas, turning each song into a Rube Goldberg contraption of pop, daring to incorporate the information overload that pop used to hold at bay."