Customer Reviews

Once We Were Trees

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I played this album through three times the first day I had it, and I was was still hungry for more! It's not about their influences (which they admittedly wear on their sleeves) and it's not about "cutting edge lo-fi indy alt-psych-country-pop", it's about the SONGS folks, the incredible SONGS. These boys can write a damn fine one, and in an album this long and this complex I can only find one song that is somewhat less than excellent (Yer Selfish Ways, which comes off as well-intentioned filler.) That one track not-withstanding, I believe this is an album of timeless classics that will stand as a testament to the life left in the music scene we are all currently let down by. The arrangelemts are wonderful, the sound is intentionally murky and processed by all manner of vintage effects (love the tape echo on the drums), but the overall impression is that this would have stood up against all the classics of the era they are so inspired by. Every time this cd gerts in my player it stays there for days. My hats off to these guys for releasing a captivating, incredible set of songs.

This is a great disc...one to listen to by the fire, or outside camping in a sleeping bag with a loved one. All of the elements are there: lots of reverb, twang, feedback guitars, banjos, harmonica, cymbals, acoustic numbers, waltzes. References? Geez, check out other reviews for that! How about the Byrds, Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Buck Owens? But a little heavier on the reverb and feedback than Gram. Some heartfelt lyrics for lovers included, such as believing in the other, sticking together & working things out thru thick and thin, unconditional love, touching stuff like that. Wow, great words and great music....better than the first disc? Check it out!

Our favorite exponents of Country and Western music these days are artists who don't even register on the musical Richter Scale that they got over there at The Grand Ol' Opry. Country music is simply the hook that artists such as Jim White, Clem Snide, and this band, Beachwood Sparks hang their Stetsons on before gussying it up with some of those various forms of pop music which have evolved over the years. Beachwood Sparks take country `themes' (as in `melodies'), country `themes' (as in `topics'), and country instruments (as in pedal steel, harmonica, and banjo) and mix them with a healthy dose of psychedelia, amongst other things, and emerge with a hauntingly weird and lovely conglomeration which we will not herein give a name but to which we will certainly give our attention.

When I fist bought this album, I found it sort of impenetrable. There were interludes, multi-tracked vocals... it's a veritable sistine chapel of sound!

Slowly, it started opening up for me. It works better as a coherent album than as a collection of tracks. Give yourself enough time to sit down and listen to this start to finish before you make up your mind. It is a masterfully crafted homage to bands like Love, 13th Floor Elevators and The Byrds ("Notorious Byrd Bros." is an obvious... eh hem... reference point).

Dreamy melodies, ebulient vocals and a killer cover of a sade song of all things! One of '01's best bets!!

...since a record washed over me like this. I listened to this 3 times straight through right as soon as I got home. Only now on the 4th listen do I feel like I'm getting a grasp of this record song by song. Not to imply there aren't great songs here, cuz there are, it's just that this record flows so beautifully. While they stay true to their blatant Buffalo Springfield and Love influences, this album finds them more fully exploring there own ambitions towards pure psychedelic bliss.

It's easy to dismiss this band as some sort of retro-fixed Buffalo Springfield/Beach Boys/ 60's California sounding psychadelic laced country. First time I listened to it I thought it was "anh, OK I guess". I put a few songs on my own personal mix CD's, and many of those songs became the highlight of the CD. Buy the CD, and listen to it a few times. The best songs are By Your Side, The Hustler, and Let it Run. Put those tracks on a homemade complimation and I think you will like them as well.

When I was young, I sometimes had to listen to new Beatles records several times before I got it..and when I got it, I became obsessed with the album..and stayed that way. Beachwood Sparks' second album strikes me with pretty much the same reaction. After several listenings, I was hooked as I was with their first recording. Their creativity in blending that country Byrds/Beatles/psychedelic feeling is a real welcome throwback to an earlier time in rock history. Think lap steels mixed with Rickenbacker 12 strings and ambient tape sounds over real catchy melodies and you get the picture.

Upon hearing the Beachwood Sparks, I, like so many others, quickly retorted with comparisons to the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Gram Parsons and so on. Let it be said that these comparables are certainly justified. Without them, it would be difficult to describe exactly what it is that Beachwood Sparks are shooting for. However, there is an element of reverb-drenched, sonic experimentation that adds innovation and depth to their compositions, far transcending any similar attempt by their previously mentioned and oh so obvious influences.

Which gets me to my point: if you love both the vintage 1960's west coast sound and the sonic experimentation that has flourished so much since, there is hardly a better band than Beachwood Sparks.


If this is the case, get both Once We Were Trees and the album Beachwood Sparks.

I have found this to be a timeless album that I return to again and again, never growing tired of it. It defies any simple categorization, and it is limiting to call this "alt-country" music. "Once We Were Trees" has more in common with Pink Floyd cerca '69 than it does with the alt-country bands like Son Volt and the Jayhawks, or the country rock of the '70s SoCal scene.

The steel guitars are sweeping and sound like they originated from outer space, the organ textures are occasionally spooky, and the harmonies are everywhere. There are also guitar noise explorations that remind you we aren't in Kansas anymore.

From the opening notes of "Germination", I knew that this was something different, something that sounded timeless but not dated, a perfect extention from the past into the present and on into the future.

As the years have passed since I first purchased this album, it has continued to grow on me, and is now one of my all-time favorites. There are tones of darkness everywhere (some have referred to it as "murkiness"), but they are tempered with both the harmonies in the arrangements, as well as the lyricical message that leave this listener with a feeling of comfort and hope.

I encourage you to give it more than one listen. I would be shocked if it didn't grow on you with a little time.

This is a great album, and despite some reviews, its just as good as the band's debut.