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Conference marvin::uk_music

Title:The UK Music Conference
Notice:Welcome (back) to UK_MUSIC on node MARVIN.
Moderator:RDGENG::CROOK
Created:Mon Mar 28 1988
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1381
Total number of notes:39269

590.0. "The Sundays" by WELMTS::GREENB (They might be giants) Tue Jan 30 1990 18:46

    Has anyone got any opinions on the first lp from the Sundays, "Reading,
    Writing & Arithmetic"?
    
    I first became aware of them via the 'Can't Be Sure' single (cheers,
    Bruce!) which was recently voted no. 1 in Peel's festive 50, and
    fell in love with it immediately. Since then, I've heard one or
    two tracks, and last weekend took the plunge and bought the CD (thereby
    doubling the size of my CD collection!).
    
    I like it a lot - it's not exactly earth-shattering or particularly
    ground-breaking, but it has a good feel, is well-produced, and
    Harriet's voice is wonderful. The sound, to me, is somewhere between
    the Cocteau Twins, the Smiths, and a kind of relaxed, less jagged
    Throwing Muses. Can't Be Sure is the best track on it, although
    the more uptempo, almost funky A Certain Someone also gets there.
    They have a knack of building a song to a good climax without hurting
    your ears.
    
    So, has anyone else heard it yet?
    
    Bob
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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590.1p.s. to .0WELMTS::GREENBThey might be giantsTue Jan 30 1990 18:533
    p.s. Does anyone know of any live dates coming up?
    
    Bob
590.2The civil serviceSHAPES::FIDDLERMTue Jan 30 1990 19:3914
    Hi Bob!!
    
    They are playing in London soon, but it is sold out.  Watch out for
    extra dates.
    
    I like the lp, but I don't think it ranks as a great.  The second song
    on side 1 is my fave ( I got the picture disk, and its hard recalling
    track titles).  Well worth checking out tho'.
    
    Mikef
    
    PS  Bruce says hi, and he has a demo of the James lp, out soon, which
    he reckons will blow your socks off!!
    
590.3Thumbs down.POBBLE::COTTONLucifer the gluesniffer.Tue Jan 30 1990 20:128
I didn't like the album. It sounded extremely bland to me, no guts.  I wasn't
really impressed with the singers' voice either.  I saw this band about a year 
ago supporting the Throwing Muses.  It was a complete non-event as far as I 
can remember (The Sundays, not the Muses).

This band has a severe case of popular press hype!

Lee (exits to the sound of boos and dodges the rotten fruit...)
590.4Press hype*HYEND::SCHILTONWhen they said sit down,I stood upTue Jan 30 1990 22:1712
    Bob,  I came in here now with the intention of asking if anyone
    knew anything about The Sundays!!  A friend in London has been 
    raving about them for a few weeks now.  
    
    ...says they'll be the band of the 90's...course he said that about
    the Stone Roses too, so I know to take everything with a grain of
    salt ;-)
    
    I guess Harriet (Wheeler, is it?) is from Reading and went to school
    in Caversham.
    
    Sue
590.5ACESMK::KUHNJay Kuhn MKO2Wed Jan 31 1990 01:033
    Hi Bob,
    
    	Back from the dead?
590.6Later?SHAPES::FIDDLERMWed Jan 31 1990 11:585
    re . 4  I didn't know Harriet was from Reading (I thought it was Bath).
      If so,  wish she'd play a gig in her home town. (Instead of Tanita
    Tikaram every other week at the Hexagon!).
    
    Mikef
590.7Ayr PlayAYOV28::BROCKWed Jan 31 1990 12:576
    
    According to the group the "Reading" in the album title "Reading,
    Writing And Arithmetic" is a play on words concerning their home
    town. A private joke that obviously no one has understood.
    
    Ian. 
590.8In the kitchenSHAPES::FIDDLERMWed Jan 31 1990 13:204
    Err...I think that was more a joke they were making in an NME
    interview, not to be taken seriously.
    
    Mikef
590.9"It's that little souvenir of a terrible year"AYOV27::DROBBI'm not a prophet or a Stone Age manThu Aug 02 1990 14:1610
    This band's debut album is another fairly recent purchase, and without
    being earth-shatteringly different, I find it very pleasant listening.
    Ms. Wheeler has an incredible, almost angel-like voice which reminds
    me a little of Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins (although the Twins'
    overall sound is a tad more dense).
    
    It's a pity the record company haven't released "Here's Where The
    Story Ends" as a single.  Seems to me like a good idea for a
    decent-sized hit, and surely their best bet after "Can't Be Sure",
    and BTW, it's apparently doing very well in the U.S.
590.10School matesUPROAR::PLOWMANDeverything you know is wrongWed Feb 24 1993 14:4913
    OK, claim to fame time.  I was at school with Harriet and her sister
    Charlotte and bumped into them over Christmas in an Oxfordshire pub. 
    We had a little reminiscence together and laughed over the fact that my
    sister was mentioned in an interview with the Sundays in Melody Maker,
    when asked "who did you want to be when you grew up?"!!
    
    So there.
    
    Brag over.
    
    Debs.
    
    
590.11You KnowAYOV16::SROBERTSONThu Feb 25 1993 11:291
    So what was she like at school - and when you last met her?
590.12UPROAR::PLOWMANDeverything you know is wrongThu Feb 25 1993 19:4512
    Her family had a sort of "bohemian" reputation, and I remember going to
    her house for birthday parties etc when I was 7/8 etc.  She was always
    very musical, and we went to see her on stage in Gypsy Rose Lee when
    she would have been about 15 I think.  I was better friends with her
    sister Charlotte, and my sister was best friends with Harriet.  I've
    got some great photos of them playing dressing up in our back garden!
    
    She was just the same when we met them, they both were, just very
    friendly, and not at all "pop starish".  They've got an older sister
    too, and a younger brother, Byron.
    
    Debs.
590.13blindGRANMA::FDEADYthat's as green as it gets..Fri Mar 26 1993 03:4122
    
    	Just bought the new The Sundays album "Blind". Very good CD, a
    great cover of the Stones' "Wild Horses". Debs. tell Harriet when
    you see her again "to keep the music coming". Very entrancing cuts.
    
    
    			fred deady
    			wbc::deady
    
    Play list
    		I feel
    		goodbye
    		life & soul
    		more
    		on earth
    		god made me
    		love
    		what do you think?
    		24 hours
    		blood on my hands
    		medicine
    		wild horses
590.14I'll do that.UPROAR::PLOWMAND"don't phone, it's just for fun"Fri Mar 26 1993 14:045
    My sis is going to see them in Rouen soon, so I'll ask her to pass on
    the message down the pub after!
    
    Debs.
    
590.15Happy SundayJURA::PELAZ::MACFADYENMon Apr 26 1993 12:3438
La Dolce Vitae, Lausanne, 25/4/93

Having not managed to persuade anyone to come with me I headed off
for Lausanne on my own, which at least had the advantage that I could
play the radio dead loud.

La Dolce Vitae is a small, intimate club, and the Sundays had managed
to pack it out. Grabbing a beer, I sat on the edge of the stage until
shooed off by a roadie who didn't want me to sit on the effects
pedals. When the music changed from an Indie groove to Barry White
singing "You're my first, my last, my everything", one instinctively
knew that something was to going to happen, and sure enough the band
came on stage a minute later,

Four of them, drummer, bassist, guitarist (who was standing close
enough to me to worry about thumping me on the head with the neck of
his guitar) and Harriet, red hair pinned up and showing a liking for
silver jewellery. Displaying a British band's usual pathetic command
of French while introducing themselves, she and they came across as
Very Nice, and launched into their set.

They played a mix of tunes off the first and second albums, with a
good sound mix. Pretty soon the 'intimate' atmosphere equated to 'hot
and sweaty'. Harriet has a terrific voice and, combined with the
Sundays sweet guitar sound, her ability to hit and hold the high notes
freed me to revel in the sound in the way that only live music allows
but so rarely does. Their sound has been compared to the Cocteau
Twins, but it struck me that a more accurate comparison is with The
Passions, whom a few of our thirty-something readers may remember.

After they had played two encore songs, they went off to the rock-pig
trick of leaving a guitar howling with feedback, but their reception
was so warm that they came back on for two more numbers, Harriet
seeming genuinely pleased. Their first gig in Switzerland, they said,
and I hope they'll be back.


Rod
590.16WRKSYS::ARTHURWhy think? Try .Wed Apr 28 1993 22:581
Ha! I remember the Passions and I'm only 29!