Her Wallpaper Reverie [EP]

Apples In Stereo

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 8, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Spin Art
• ASIN: B00000IP4X
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #150,422 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The great thing about being part of a musical collective is that not only can you draw from the work of your peers for inspiration, you can rely on your peers themselves. As part of Elephant 6, the Apples in Stereo are involved in a symbiotic relationship with such like-minded bands as Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel. For example, Apples frontman Robert Schneider produced a previous OTC album and OTC controller William Cullen Hart designed the artwork for the Apples' new record, Her Wallpaper Reverie. So it's no surprise that Wallpaper sounds like a more cohesive sequel to OTC's mind-bending Black Foliage. What is surprising is just how vast an improvement it is over the Apples' last sugary pop disc, Tone Soul Evolution. A psychedelic excursion threaded together with chiming, repetitive interludes, the album blends the styles of Revolver-era Beatles with those of Smile-era Beach Boys, resulting in a shimmering pop cocktail that's both crafty and infectious. Only two flaws: the interludes become a tad annoying and the album is only 27 minutes long, leaving the listener begging for more. Fortunately, most CDs have a repeat-play button. --Jon Wiederhorn

Product Description
1999 album, the follow-up their successful '97 album, 'Tone Soul Evolution'. A return to the fuzzy rock sound of their earlier releases while taking giant steps forward, it contains 15 tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great, November 8, 1999

By	M. Boonstra - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm sorry, but some of these reviews seem really biased. Yes, there are one, maybe two good songs on here, but is really the greatest record since Skylarking or somthing like that? Hardly. I wanted to like this way more than I did. I would direct anyone to Tone Soul Evolution or Fun Trick Noisemaker first. This record is another in a series of disappointments from Elephant Six. Seriously, I can't get into this or Black Foliage. Truthfully, I feel this is an okay release (better than OTC's newest), and I'll buy their next record, but the best in '99? Hardly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Pop Gem, April 28, 2003

By	A. Bubul (PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This ep is lovely and quaint, fitting perfectly in my cd collection. I'm usually not a big fan of experimental interludes, but on this cd, they're short enough to maintain your interest. The first real track on here is the shiney sea, a spacey, psychotomimetic blast from the past. Very pyschadelic, very cool. Strawberryfire (so good) is the next full song. It's another 60s, beatlesque song with charming harmonies and blissful insouciance. Ruby is the next whole track. More jaunty pop fun. Next up are my two favorites on this disc, Questions & Answers, and Y2K. Both are superb tracks. Questions and Answers is another upbeat track that's extremely catchy and Y2K is a facetious mockery backed up by awesome music. Benefits of Lying and Ruby are the last two real tracks on the cd. These two are slower and more subdued than the other songs, but they're just as good. This ep is amazing, I recommend it to everybody.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The greatest EP I've bought in many years!, July 30, 2000

By A Customer

This EP (yes, it's an EP, not an album) is just irresistable. The proper songs are uniformly amazing and contain so much wonderful, spirited '60s-influenced songcraft. This is one of those albums that just puts a big goofy smile on my face when I listen to it (and I mean that as high compliment).

As mentioned by other reviewers, there are six proper songs, interspersed with nine short, mostly instrumental "themes." ("Ruby, Tell Me" has vocals, but at less than a minute, doesn't really qualify as a proper song.) I find most of the instrumental weirdness between the proper tracks to be interesting rather than annoying. To me, the strange, jarring sounds and ambient undertones establish a sort of flip-side to the sunny proper tunes -- perhaps depicting the dark side of a bad trip. They are mostly very short and easily digested, although "Drifting Patterns" lasts too long and can get on my nerves with its repetitive notes.

If I were to quibble, I could say that "Y2K" is already a bit dated due its title and subject matter. But take it as a sort of topical song of the day.

All in all, a GREAT psychedelic effort. As much as I enjoy their poppy new "The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone," I would like the Apples to release a proper album in the same vein as "Her Wallpaper Reverie." They might not want to be The Olivia Tremor Control, but this EP proves that they certainly could go more in that direction, with excellent results, if they wanted to.