Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 21:26:08 -0500 From: Doug Wittner Subject: Re: The Friday Review > > The reviews for The Sundays "Static and Silence" ("it lacks some of the > > pop edge of their debut...but it's worth persevering with.") and Photek > > "Modus Operandi" ("awash with breakbeats and synth chords like Kraftwerk > > with a hangover") are a little more restrained. > > The NME absolutely panned the Sundays album, I must say my enthusiasm > for a third album which will sound pretty much like the first one is > rather limited. I had such high hopes when their debut single came > out, and loved the first album, but churning out twelve more examples > of the same thing every five years hasn't really kept me interested. > just to throw in a bit, i heard most of the sundays' album in a rekkid store the other day and it sounded pretty uninteresting...i mean, i've always felt that "blind" is required listening for all carbon based beings, but this new thing is both derivative of their earlier sound *and* a step towards "adult contemporary" folkishness - what makes "blind" such a pleasure are the deft mood shifts (and "24 hours", a different story) but...well, i would agree with mr. norman and indicate that one of the more stellar "acts" of the last 8 years has succumbed to their own history...here's hoping that an all-star "remix project" isn't in the works as we speak... (shuddering, imagining panacea remixing "summertime" and the extended remix of "love" done by boymerang. urrrr....) Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 23:22:24 -0500 From: Jeremy L Orr Subject: Re: Scala/Seefeel, Trio, HNIA, Sundays, Portishead! So far, the Sundays' _Static & Silence_ has left me with the same impression that _Blind_ did. "Well, this is nice, I guess - her vocals are still great - but it's all pretty facile and forgettable." I've listened to it twice and I still can't remember how any of the songs go...I'd be sitting here (still staring outlooking) and a few minutes later, I'd realize that another two songs had gone by and I'd paid NO attention to them whatsoever. I do remember thinking that the flutes that crop up occasionally sort of gave the songs that sort of 70's easy-listening feel. I can see this album growing on me with repeated listenings, though, just like _Blind_ did. (I noticed that Patrick Hannan is still listed as the Sundays' drummer, but is he still with the band? That doesn't look like him in the video at all. And speaking of drummers, the name of one of the percussionists from the Cocteau Twins _FCC_ tour shows up in the credits, albeit with a totally different spelling...so is David's last name Pulfreman or Palfreeman?)