The Sundays-Static and Silence
(Dreamworks)
The last time The Sundays came out with an album, we were in high school (well, some of you may have been in junior high). After their not-so-successful debut, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, The Sundays turned out a much better sophomore effort in Blind (which most people bought for the esoteric cover of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses").
I once owned RWA, but sold it because I never listened to it. Well, millions of others must have done the same, judging by the number of RWA that can be found in used-CD bargain bins across the country (though still nowhere near the number of Nine Inch Nails discs out there). Even after the success of Blind, The Sundays remained silent from 1992 until now. Their new album, Static & Silence, hit record stores Tuesday morning following the release of the album's first single, "Summertime."
"Big Sundays fan?" the guy at the record store asked as I laid out the dough for the disc ten minutes after the store opened Tuesday morning.
"Well, I like them enough, but we didn't get a review copy of the disc for the piece I'm writing this week." So, instead of waiting another week for a (free) review copy of the disc, I bought it. David Geffen: 1, Leslie: 0.
I would like to take this time to mention that the last CD I bought on its release date was Zooropa. Hmm... thankfully, Static & Silence is much better than Zooropa ever could be. [And Leslie sends a painful pang to the gut of every U2 fan across the campus.]
The disc opens with the catchy, written-for-mainstream-radio "Summertime." That's another thing-back during the Blind and RWA days, The Sundays couldn't catch airplay to save their lives (or their sales). Far be it from the girl who has an unhealthy liking for "MmmmBop" to say that, to be good, a song shouldn't get radio air time. But I think the majority of Sundays' songs just won't fit into G105's playlist.
They had to spice and speed up Jewel's "Foolish Games" to get it onto the radio (I still haven't heard tha album version on the air). I shudder to think what they'd have to do to the entire Sundays' album to give the songs mass appeal. Gone would be the fanciful string arrangements in "Cry." Harriet Wheeler's slow easygoing vocals would be paired with a pulsating drum machine, driving the tunes into dance beat hell. G105 listeners driving their Saturns and sport utility vehicles down I-40 would be almost lulled to sleep by The Sundays' calm tunes.
This is the CD guys have in their car for the first date. This is the CD you want as your soundtrack when gazing up at the stars. This is not the CD you take to a frat party. You can hear David Gavurin's fingers slide up and down his guitar strings in "I Can't Wait," while Wheeler's vocals paint a picture of someone striving for a change.
"Another Flavour" is the band's well-written crtitique of the fashion industry's never-ending quest for the new and the fresh. "Fashion-the timing was wrong/ your friends are fair weather/ you knew it all along," Wheeler sings without a hint of bitterness. The Sundays have that 10,000 Maniacs-like talent for laying loaded lyrics on top of sunny, happy music.
Sundays' fans will be happy to hear that the band's trademark sound-Wheeler's voice-has not changed a bit over the years. Each of the songs is instantly recognizeable as a Sundays' tune with soft, understated drums, jangly guitars and the frequent addition of orchestral arrangements (like the flute in "So Much") that make the band so unique.
Wheeler's vocals still go where hardly anywhere else can go-twisting and turning over the lyrics with the ease of a gymnast. I've never heard someone change keys and octaves quite so effortlessly. Glissandos and grace notes are commonplace for Wheeler, and her girlish voice makes all those adult sounds seem easy. But they're not-I've tried.
Static & Silence is great Sundays fare. My only complaint is its brevity. With 12 songs, tha album clocks in at under 45 minutes. That's about 35 cents a minute. Unless you're a die-hard Sundays fan, you're not going to fork over that kind of dough. But, do look over the menial fiscal matter and invest in a worthwhile disk for those slow, quiet evenings-under the moon with a bottle of wine.
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