Plothole Ultra

Plothole Ultra is the second album by alternative rock band Hubbard's Spaceship, and their mainstream breakthrough.

Writing
The songs on Plothole Ultra were written over a five year period from 1990-1995, with President No being recorded in 1994, because the band were so pleased with the lyrics of the song. In this time, Hubbard's Spaceship released three extended plays and a debut studio album, which received positive acclaim but little mainstream success.

The lyrics are often tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic, with a notable exception being made on Croaking, which is about the death of Michael Lyon's brother.

Recording
The album was recorded over three days in early March 1997, and mastered in the same month. The songs were very lyrical, but also rather short, usually clocking in at either just over or just under two minutes, with notable exceptions being made for Helipad (3:01) and Croaking (8:11)

Release
Plothole Ultra was released on May 24th 1997, with no singles. The band decided to promote the album with Helipad, two weeks after it was released, and the single was released through their vanity label, Wow! Records.

At the beginning of 1998, Helipad started to get unprecedented amounts of airplay for the band, which, to be fair to them, wasn't very much, but it exceeded all expectations.

By April of 1998, Helipad was being played on mainstream radio, and Hubbard's Spaceship was picked up by Parlophone, who reissued Plothole Ultra soon after. The vinyl press of the Parlophone issue is notoriously rare, and there were apparently only 25 made.

The album was repressed on vinyl in 2016, and on CD in 2017. A tape reissue was planned in 2004, but nothing came of it.

Tracklist

 * 1) Bedside
 * 2) How The Hell Do You Expect Me To Steer This Ship Without A License
 * 3) President No
 * 4) Call Me Ishmael
 * 5) Underwater
 * 6) Helipad
 * 7) Breathing Very Slowly
 * 8) Been There
 * 9) Croaking