[6] Formed in 1990,[7] Shed Seven quickly gained a reputation for their live performances, having been banned from playing in a number of local music venues in their hometown of York, due to the "violent" nature of attendees at their gigs.
[8] They soon focused their attention on London, playing a handful of live shows in the city's smaller venues—including both the Rock Garden and Bull and Gate—to audiences featuring key members of the British music business, such as BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq.
[8] In September 1993, they were voted the third best live band at London's Inner City Festival—the first time an unsigned act had placed in the top three[7]—and appeared on BBC Radio 5's Hit The North programme.
In March 1994, NME claimed that they were "worthy carriers of the baton that's passed through the hands of the Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Stone Roses",[12] and The Guardian named them "this week's Next Big Things" in late-October,[23] highlighting the group as an alternative to the "musical thuggery" of other bands.
Alongside the praise heaped on their live performances, came a wave of non-musical criticism aimed at the "foolish" things they said,[23] their haircuts and unfashionable dress sense,[13][24] through to their band and singer's names.
[23][30] In a piece titled "Pretenders to the throne", charting British rock music's challengers to the crown then-held by Blur, The Guardian posed the question: "do they really expect to make it big with a singer called Rick Witter?".
The two bands—who had played on the same bill in London and were touring France together as part of a small series of shows organised by a French magazine[26]—were seen as contemporaneous rivals[31][32] and had become embroiled in a war of words via sections of the British music press.
[27] Due to this growing rivalry, along with the positive response that had greeted the release of their debut double A side single "Mark" / "Casino Girl",[12][15][25] the fledgling band were seen to have set themselves a high standard to live up to.
[25] Although Change Giver did receive some positive attention, featuring in a number of music publications end-of-year polls, it failed to gain the same scale of universal critical approval as that of Definitely Maybe, and was unable to match the unit sales of the then-record breaking debut album.
[15] Commenting on these early sessions in July 1999, guitarist Paul Banks revealed that they were slightly overwhelmed by their first experience of recording in a professional studio;[15] We'd been signed in October 1993 and it was all a bit of a shock really.
[29][37] Angela Lewis, writing for The Independent in October 1994, described the group as "roguishly disarming youth popsters" who, despite having "a bravado whiff of ridiculous self assurance that's straight out of Blur's 1992 patent", had something worthwhile to offer with the release of their debut album.
"[40] Ian Gittins of Melody Maker also noted a similarity with the Smiths, via a "tenuous link" found in the lyrics written by Shed Seven's frontman, Rick Witter, who he thought had "an ear for Morrissey-esque homely homilies".
He also drew comparisons with both Radiohead and Oasis, and highlighted "Dirty Soul" and "Long Time Dead" as the album's standout tracks: "Viewed as a chipper, cocky collection of brassy northern pop songs, Change Giver scores a resounding... seven out of 10.
'Dirty Soul', the opener, is the kind of choppy, fuzzy rollercoaster ride Shed Seven are good at and 'Long Time Dead' is a supremely catchy angst fest à la 'Creep'".
[39] He compared "Dolphin" to the "tom-tom frothiness" of the Jack Rubies, noted a Byrds-like vocal interplay in "Speakeasy", and declared that the album "rides off into the sunset with the eight-minute riff-a-thon 'On an Island with You'.
[31] Writing for The Guardian G2 in November 1996, Caroline Sullivan remarked, "a couple of years ago, when the outcome of the Britpop race was uncertain, the Sheds certainly gave the Gallaghers a run for their money.