Some Friendly is the debut studio album of British rock band the Charlatans that was released on 8 October 1990 through Beggars Banquet Records imprint Situation Two.

After forming in 1988, the band went through line-up changes before settling on vocalist Tim Burgess, guitarist John Baker, bassist Martin Blunt, keyboardist Rob Collins and drummer Jon Brookes.

In May 1990, "The Only One I Know" was released as the lead single from Some Friendly; it earned the Charlatans their first appearance on the BBC Television music show Top of the Pops and the band embarked on their first headlining tour of the United Kingdom.

After the demise of their band The Gift Horses, bassist Martin Blunt, vocalist and guitarist Baz Ketley, and drummer Jon Brookes regrouped and held a jam session, marking the formation of The Charlatans in 1988.

[21][25] Harrison signed the Charlatans to a contract for one album and three singles; they made a gentlemen's agreement in which the band could join another label should they receive an adequate offer.

[25] They made a demo tape comprising "Indian Rope", "You Can Talk to Me" and "White Shirt", selling copies at gigs in October 1989.

[30][31] Towards the end of the month, Nagle contacted Harrison, who sent him a tape of a gig that included "Indian Rope" and "Sproston Green".

[33] Harrison packaged copies of the tape with press kits, one of which came into the possession of Manchester Evening News writer Sarah Campion.

[47][56] Growing confident as musicians, the band members suggested ways that some of the songs should sound; this included asking for distortion to be added to a particular instrument.

[53] Burgess later regretted the version of "Polar Bear" they had recorded, stating; "it was a live favourite but we'd overproduced it and destroyed it in the studio".

He also said the "slow, building groves" of "Believe You Me", "Flower" and "Sproston Green", all of which "overflow with creamy Hammond organ, psychedelic guitar effects, aggressive bass, and winsome vocals, owe as much to 'Echoes' as to any other influence".

[59] Author Michael Heatley said the Charlatans had more of a "traditional" sound than their contemporaries Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses because of their Rolling Stones-like "swagger" and Collins' organ.

[60] Journalist John Robb in his biography The Charlatans: We Are Rock (1998), refers to Some Friendly as the band's "Hammond album", adding, "the record was stamped with Collins' brooding complex personality and just beyond the record's poppy vibe you can hear the great crashing keyboard played with an intense passion by a young man working out his inner turmoil through rock & roll".

[61] Jon Wiederhorn of Spin said the band's music "float[s] on gently lapping waves of sound, blending light, iridescent instrumentation and heavy-lidded vocals with loose hypnotic dance beats".

[67] "White Shirt" is largely inspired by the work of Felt and an attempt to shift Collins' musical interests away from The Beatles and Deep Purple.

[31] Burgess cites Sonic Flower Groove (1987) by Primal Scream and Armstrong’s Revenge & Eleven Other Short Stories (1985) by the Claim as influences,[68] and said its title refers to a dress code for one town's clubs during his youth.

[46][71] Blunt said Baker recorded repetitive guitar parts that are similar to those in "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Supremes to give the song a "bit more urgency".

[77] This newer version was inspired by the work of Throbbing Gristle,[78] and includes a sample of Robert De Niro from Angel Heart (1987).

[96] The video depicts the band replicating a live show, and was recorded in Sandbach at a warehouse owned by a friend of Harrison.

[121] To the surprise of the band, "Sproston Green" started gaining traction in the US, which made them worry that the tour would be extended and thus delay future recording sessions.

This retreat marked the end of both the band and the Madchester scene attempting to gain market share in the US, leaving an opportunity for grebo acts such as EMF and Jesus Jones to do so later that year.

[108] In June 2009, Burgess said he wanted to play a one-off gig to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Some Friendly, though mentioned that not all of the members of the Charlatans were interested in the idea.

[124] This version surfaced after a failed attempt by Beggars Banquet to compile a more expansive box stalled with the band's management two years earlier.

[135] Upon its release, Some Friendly was met with mixed reviews from music critics, a number of whom highlighted the band's influences rather than the contemporary nature of their sound.

[137] Entertainment Weekly writer Elysa Gardner said the band successfully "capture the moodiness of a lot of late-'60s rock and, on their better cuts ... the shimmering buoyancy of that era’s pop".

[139] Elizabeth Wurtzel of New York said the album is "like falling into a time warp", singling out the use of the organ and wah-wah guitar effects as "so quintessentially sixties that it resembles music from the soundtrack of a very dated movie".

They praised every song for being a "positive gem", concluding by calling the album one of the "finest and most challenging records of the past two years".

[147] Robb wrote that despite the album being a "great attempt to capture the flavour of the times", it is not "quite the classic that, say, the Roses had dealt the year before".

[149] Author Dave Thompson, in his book Alternative Rock (2000), wrote that what makes the band stand apart from their contemporaries is their "occasional nod to Mod (especially the Who); that and Tim Burgess' wistful, delicate vocals.

[146] Some Friendly entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, marking the first time in a few years a new act had debuted at that position.