Customer Reviews

Headsparks

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Abfab. Brilliant first CD from Seam. What can i say other than this (and the remainder of the Seam series) is an irreplaceable part of any respectable Collection.

The first thing you would grab in a fire.

I first heard this album some time ago now, (about 1992 or 1993 - whatever -it's a bit hazy)and ever since i have been waiting to see them live, if they don't come to Australia I'll just have to go there. Hey guys you can even crash at my house so long as you promise to play in my living room (and show me how to re-create that headshatter wall of dreamscreamsound)!

This for a very early Seam album sounds solid: characteristically their melodic interplay and the arranging of songs that slowly build over three or four minutes that seem (in a good way) much longer are already present. Some tunes are a bit more aggressive and tense, but with this band, the more reserved songs also share this aggregate of pent-up emotion fighting its way towards psychic and physical release.

Mac McCaughan of Superchunk's on drums here, and Sarah Shannon fills in wonderfully as guest vocalist on "Shame." For only three members on this CD, Seam deliver a full, textured, and rich sound. It sounds like 1992, in a good way, not dated or grungy, but with well-measured peaks and valleys. It's four stars only since "The Pace is Glacial," the band's superb swan song, is so much more of a five-star effort by comparison. All of the band's albums are consistently strong, with nearly no embarassing swerves into trendiness or posing, and fifteen years on, Seam should be proud of their baby steps here that soon stood strong.

I've been listening to seam since about 1993 and i have to agree that Headsparks is truly an amazing 1st full-length. All of their cd's are great, they have a signature sound that has evolved over the course of their releases, yet still remains ultimately Seam. I had the good fortune of seeing them play live at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, MI in late 1997. The Pig is a nice, small venue where i was able to stand with my friends no more than 4 or 5 feet from the band!! That they were mind-blowing goes without saying. They played new material for them at the time (songs off 'The Pace Is Glacial'-released in 1998) as well as all of my favorites from 'The Problem With Me'. After the show we got to talking to them and we found out that they had no place to stay the night in Ann Arbor, so my girlfriend's roomate offered her place and Seam accepted!! So i got to hang out with the band and drink a few beers and ask them all sorts of interesting things. Hands down one of the best times of my life so far!!

In writing reviews, one constantly is moved to call a band "underrated" or "overlooked" as in "man, this band is one of my favorites, and they don't get no ink." Well, Seam is beyond underrated; they are a great lost rock band, the 90's version of Simply Saucer (OK, so the parallels are not exact). Not totally dissimilar to Bedhead or even Galexie 500, on their first record Seam also channels 80's indie pioneers such as the Pixies and Sonic Youth. But ultimately there is nothing derivative or dated about the band. Seam manages to sound both straightforward and oblique at the same time; their sound is classic rock and roll, which is not to say classic rock, but rock and roll submerged under a layer of gauze, or filtered through a waterfall. The vocals, here and on later records, are often swamped in the mix, but this only adds to the band's draw, I think. In this respect, the vocal approach is similar to Michael Stipe's all but unintelligble singing on "Chronic Town" and "Murmur"; the voice becomes a vital element in the total sound mix, but does not jump out in front of the guitar or drums. Overall, I prefer "The Problem With Me," and there is no single track here to match Seam classics such as "Little Chang, Big City" or "Road to Madrid" but Headsparks succeds brilliantly on its own terms and stands out from the waves of detritus of early 90's alternative music.