The Sundays are:
Harriet Wheeler - vocals
Paul Brindley - bass
David Gavurin - guitars
Patrick Hannan - drums
Towards the end of the 80's, The Smiths, just broken up, were becoming an increasingly influential band in the United Kingdom, especially on the Britpop movement that started in the early 90's.
The Sundays, although somewhat ahead of the Britpop movement to come, were among the first bands influenced by The Smiths.
'To be influenced by', however, doesn't mean they can effectively recreate those elements that made their heroes great. While I can't deny that The Sundays have things in common with The Smiths soundwise, to truly compare them would be an insult. An insult to The Smiths.
Harriet Wheeler sounds nothing like Morrissey, and while that obviously doesn't automatically mean she sounds bad, her voice is one of the many things wrong on this record. While she sings in an annoyingly whining manner, it feels like it's done on purpose rather than that it just happened to be her natural voice. By constantly shifting in volume levels from extremely soft to bellowing it out and sustaining notes with a painful vibrato in her voice, it creates this atmosphere of extremities throughout the album that get to a point where they are nearly nausea-inducing.
The rest of the band only put salt on the wound. David Gavurin writes the kind of trademark 80's melodic guitar riffs, characterized by it's reverb-laden sound with plenty of chorus on it. While Gavurin manages to create ambiance by playing simple melodies and giving the other members enough room to breathe, the fact that he doesn't change this style throughout the course of ten songs makes it become a bane for the album.
Patrick Hannan's drumming is some of the most sparse sounding I've ever heard. On a track like 'Can't Be Sure' it's so far back in the mix it's almost inaudible. What were they thinking when mixing this record? It's a shame too, because his beats actually are quite nice and it seems that they could have added a lot had they been more present.
The bass work on this album is one of the few things half-decent here. Because there is only one guitar player, the bass is more audible, and while not exactly perplexing, they are solid overall.
Any redeeming qualities then? While there aren't really any "energetic" songs here that swing or roll, the latter tracks on this album are actually better than the last, which is rare, as most bands would have put the better songs as album openers, with more memorable guitar playing from Gavurin. At the end of the day however, you're better off buying that Smiths album you don't have yet.
