Customer Reviews

New Seasons

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

 

 

The Sadies newest amalgam of Americana sounds is simply breathtaking. They careen through hot-picked bluegrass, grungy post-punk garage psych, firebrand electric country-rock, badlands western and drag-and-surf with impressive instrumental chops and a master's disregard for coloring across the lines. Especially impressive is that they never sound like dilettantish genre-hoppers; segueing from the Shadows of Knight meets Gun Club grunge of "The First Inquistion (Part 4)" to the Clarence White styled guitar picking sparks of "What's Left Behind" they're completely fluid, with the difference in the songs' sonic temperaments overruled by matching moods of urgency.

Several musical threads bind the band's influences together. Extended codas bring several songs to rest, with a waltz-time restatement ending "Anna Leigh" and an extended fusillade of guitars taking "The Trial" into a blurred sunset dissolve. The cinematic nature of that western imagery is repeated in the surf-meets-Morricone instrumental that closes the album, "The Last Inquisition (Part 5)," and the rolling rhythms of "Yours to Discover" and "The Trial" are equal parts dusty trail and '60s folk, with the former sung hushed and low, the latter Leonard Cohen bitter. Several songs would have sounded at home in the early '80s Paisley Underground revival. "My Heart of Wood" has a diffused guitar line that brings to mind The Dream Syndicate, "A Simple Aspiration" takes the psych and garage sounds onto the terrain of The Leaving Trains or Droogs, and The Byrdsian "The Land Between" could have turned up in the catalog of The Long Ryders. None are derivative, but the Good brothers have clearly been drinking from the same musical spring as these predecessors.

The lyrical mood is often dissolute, turning nearly suicidal on "Sunset to Dawn." There's a strain of fatalism that opens "The Trial" with the lyric "I wish that I could be the way that I once was / But God's got other plans for me," and preordination marks the protagonists of both "Yours to Discover" and "Anna Leigh." The dark themes are echoed in the band's music, with atmospheric, low-stringed guitar solos and rhythms that canter like a chasing posse. These songs are remarkably complete works, with lyrics that are both allusive and concrete, and instrumental backings that offer both the foreground joys of fleet string picking and the superbly anchoring rhythm work of drummer Mike Belitsky and bassist Sean Dean. The few tracks that aren't blindingly impressive only pale in comparison to the brilliance of the opening and closing salvos. This is a disc that will stick in your CD player for days at a time and have you hitting the repeat button to hear individual tracks over again. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

Reading the initial reviews of The Sadies' latest record, "New Seasons" (Yep Roc YEP 2148), one could quickly compile a laundry list of named cool musical influences, that will make a dude's or a lass's head spin. Of course, that's what Toronto's Sadies do so well--weave diverse musical influences into a seamless whole and make it look easy. I could join the fray and drum up yet another list of influences in this review that would maybe further titilate the alt.country or indie music connoiseur to scramble out and buy this nifty record but I'll leave that task to the other guys.

I like this album because it sounds good, plain and simple. The guitars chime and twang in all the right places. Good, Good, Belitsky and Dean even sing harmonies on several tracks. Gary Louris's production is first rate, as he allows the Sadies to play their distinctive brand of alt.country tinged rock and roll with deftly added pop textures that will hopefully bring the Sadies to a much wider audience. I mention pop textures because when one clears away the heaps of "cool" musical references, there is solid pop at the core of "New Seasons". I hear country-rock chords of the Outlaws "Green Grass and High Tides" on "What's Left Behind". I also hear the haunting instrumental melody of Kansas's folk-infused "Dust in the Wind" on "Anna Leigh", and I hear the spooky re-verbed guitars of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well Pts. 1 & 2" on "The Last Inquisition (pt.V)". Now name dropping three seemingly un-cool 70's bands may be wacked (have I lost my alt.country credibility and otherwise general hipness in all things neo-trad?), but I hear what I hear...and I hear strong pop melodies in The Sadies' new songs. The Sadies have pulled off quite the skillful feat, since they shroud their latest record in all sorts of garage rock and cult-band sounds but at the heart of their tales of ecological doom and human despair is a rock solid pop record of the kind that was made in the 1960's and 1970's by such artists as, The Byrds, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Gordon Lightfoot...just to name a few "pop" musicians. Too square or dated for you? Well for all of their musical attempts to capture the far-out sounds of the then new acid-drenched consciousness that erupted in the summer of love, bands like The Byrds, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac, grounded their musical trips in road tested country, rock and blues back beats, pop vocal harmonies and hooky jangly guitar licks.

Oh yeah, this album is a trip, but don't be fooled by all of the critics who are eagerly falling all over themselves spewing out the names of as many obscure musical influences they can "hear" on "New Seasons". The Sadies are too smart a band to just splatter musical paint. No, the Sadies finally have mixed the perfect blend of pop, rock and country and created a fragile yet sturdy pop masterpiece that you can dance to and think about. Yeah, believe the other critics and reviewers when they say that these guys are that good but I believe it but for different reasons. The Sadies are that good because they have brought pop sensibilities to alt.country without compromising their unique sound and distinctively Canadian vision one bit. Mother nature's in trouble and men shall face an ultimate judgment someday, but for now just sit back and groove on the coolest music this side of Lake Ontario, eh!

My gosh, how mankind has NEEDED this music! The Sadies, no matter what you want to call it, have created the basis for music that will make mankind happier in years to come. The harmonies behind the lyrics and melodies strike a "feel good" chord in human souls!

Likened to the Byrds at their creative and musical best, this (and their first cd) emanates a kind of a countryish rock that is world class stuff - but beyond normal music industry same-old-another-rock-band...these guys have vision, and creative musical talent that should be played to the world....

I wish that I had the vocabulary to generate how important, how creative this group is, and how well they put it together. Sadies - keep going! Tho' they're not as well known, their music is everybit as good, creative, heartwarming as all the world-class bands and musicians out there....rock - country - folk - it's all there!

Up until last weekend, I had heard of the Sadies, but never heard. I saw them live last weekend and was ... blown away/thoroughly impressed. The next day my roommate bought this record at a local shop and here I am searching for this record and feeling impelled to write this review because I saw only one review and it was 4 stars. I demand 5 stars. This is like nothing you've ever heard. Psychedelic Rock, Country, Surf, and Garage mish-mashed into something gracefully soulful and awesome. That is what they do. I'm surprised this album hasn't received the heaps of critical acclaim that it deserves. It's not just the masterfully played music (these guys are all session musicians) but the solid lyrics on this release sing to me like something I'd I want to croon along with from the top of a desolate mountain. So this is my review from the top of the hypothetical mountain. Buy this album. If it disappoints you, I don't care. Go buy something else.

And for the Canadian music trivia geek out there. One of the brothers from this band played with Canada's underrated psychedelic rocking goodness - Elevator. And lo and behold. Rick White, the long haired wizard behind Elevator designed the album art and even helped out on a couple songs. Tight.

"i'll drive a thousand miles and still have twice as far too go... did i choose the right direction, so they tell me, i don't know."

had stuck together and added Clarence White to the lineup, something like NEW SEASONS might have been the result. Great tunes, great harmonies, the guitars all ring true and, at just 32 minutes, this release lasts just long enough to satisfy most retro folk-rock fans.

4 1/2 stars. Recommended.

The Good brothers have provided those of us lucky enough to have heard some more fine songs. The performances are strong the guitar work substantial but not ostentatious. The songs make this album.