Customer Reviews

Sing-Sing and I

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

 

 

I loved Lush. There is no doubt that Emma Anderson played a key role in song crafting while in Lush, proven by the couple of songs that really stand out on Sing Sing and I. While Sing Sing is not Lush, Emma Anderson and Lisa O'Neill certainly seem to find that sweet spot that satisfied this Lush fan.

For me, are the two truly "close your eyes and imagine a new Lush song" --those being "Modern Girl" (written by Anderson) and "Going Out Tonight" (written by Anderson and O'Neill). In fact, I almost found Going Out Tonight to capture the spirit of the first Lush hit--"Deluxe", certainly one of my continuing favorites and the Lush song that attracted me to them in the first place. First listen elicited that reaction, a good sign. Amazon users should be able to pick up the vibe with the 30 sec sample.

Repeated listens revealed that a majority of this album is very good. Beyond the songs already mentioned, I found "Ruby", "Unseen", "When I was Made" and "A Kind of Love" worth the price of purchase. Compared to their first album, I would say that "Sing Sing and I" is more consistent and those sweet spots are more frequent than "The Joy of Sing Sing".

We can hope that Sing Sing (re)finds enough of the original Lush fan base and continues producing albums.

I originally bought this album directly from Emma and LIsa's website [...]. To say the least, this album is HIGHLY recommended. Overall, the album has a decidedly different feel from Lush albums, but you can easily hear Emma and Lisa's gifts for songwriting. "Lover", "Mister Kadali", "I Do", and "Modern Girl" are the standouts from my viewpoint. The other songs, still, are better than anything else out there these days. If you like subtley in highly crafty songwriting along with the occassional straight-ahead rocker, then buy this disc. I would buy this disc for "I Do" and "Mister Kadali" alone, and the "Lover" multimedia track is hilarious (although this is on the enhanced import version)!

Sing-Sing is destined for artistic success, even if commercial success eludes them, but I think that once people discover this album and give it a try, commercial success is close at hand for this album. The word just needs to get out and I hope that this review helps!

Gwen Stefani or even U2 could stand to something learn from these ladies!

Again, highly recommended!

On par with Sing-Sing's first release."Modern Girl" "I Do" and "Going Out Tonight" will bring back memories of the Lush sound. All very listenable, instantly likeable solid pop tracks.

Sing-Sing's newest album, "Sing-Sing" and I, is a great, eclectic album that grows on you with repeated listenings. It builds on their previous album "The Joy of Sing-Sing" in both songwriting and technique.

In its own right "A Modern Girl" deserves to be a pop masterpiece, one of many strong tracks. This song previously was only available on a difficult to find British four-song CD sampler.

As a bonus, the "Sing-Sing and I" CD includes a creative video for the song "Lover"-definately different than what you will see on MTV or VH1!

I came upon Sing-Sing through a passion for the music of dream-pop pioneers Lush and their guitarist Emma Anderson who now plays for Sing-Sing. Her unique guitar touch is well-represented on both Sing Sing albums. She's joined by Lisa O'Neill who has an incredible range on vocals.

Sing-Sing isn't Lush and I get that. Even so, there's more of a pop sound to this album than their previous ones. Some songs, like Mister Kadali, I just skip entirely.

I originally bought this album directly from Emma and LIsa's website "www.sing-sing.co.uk". To say the least, this album is HIGHLY recommended. Overall, the album has a decidedly different feel from Lush albums, but you can easily hear Emma and Lisa's gifts for songwriting. "Lover", "Mister Kadali", "I Do", and "Modern Girl" are the standouts from my viewpoint. The other songs, still, are better than anything else out there these days. If you like subtley in highly crafty songwriting along with the occassional straight-ahead rocker, then buy this disc. I would buy this disc for "I Do" and "Mister Kadali" alone, and the "Lover" multimedia track is hilarious!

Sing-Sing is destined for artistic success, even if commercial success eludes them, but I think that once people discover this album and give it a try, commercial success is close at hand for this album. The word just needs to get out and I hope that this review helps!

Gwen Stefani or even U2 could stand to something learn from these ladies!

Again, highly recommended!

A good album, something you can listen to from start to finish without it becoming stale. The music has a European flavor and gets better the more you listen. Soundtracks are all written, recorded, and produced very well. You don't have to be a fan of Lush (Emma's previous band) to enjoy this.

I suppose that Emma Anderson and Lisa O'Neil get tired of being compared to Lush, but it's inevitable, and appropriate, as illustrated by this CD. Usually it's easy to identify the heart and soul of a group's sound, without them the group is not even identifiable. In spite of owning every CD by Lush and several bootleg concert tapes as well, I wasn't sure who that might be in Lush, I figured it was collaborative. After all, neither Anderson or Berenyi played solos, they pretty much hammered away in unison. And their vocals . . . well, I could never really understand what they were singing anyway, and neither had great pipes. But that sound, that Lush sound, it was new and different and important.

The point is of course, that this CD shows the lion's share of the credit for that sound belongs to Anderson, well illustrated by the most Lush-like songs on this CD, particulary "Going Out Tonight". The pop songs here are generally well done and pleasant, but ultimately not very satisfying. O'Neil is okay I suppose, I can hear the lyrics a little better than Berenyi used to sing maybe, but I really don't care. I'm not being negative, just honest, and naturally in saying so I identify myself as a shoegazer fan, who thought that the height of Lush's career were songs like "Deluxe" and not "Shake Baby Shake", a very good song, I grant you, but territory already well traveled by any number of "girl" bands. If you played that song for a novice they might think it was Bananarama or the Bangles.

But there was no mistaking the magnificent noise that Lush, and Anderson obviously, was capable of making. For me the best thing they ever did was 3:10 into "Superblast", the ultimate expression of shoegazing, a guitars-swirling, drums-pounding complete summation of what it was all about. The pity is that the music never reached its full potential, the story of Lush as well. Never mind the early termination of the band, by that point they were trying a different direction anyway.

Not that the girls didn't give it full tilt. As late as "Undertow" they were still producing some awesome noise. But not everyone is a great songwriter, and even if they did write some nice passages and hooks, they didn't really have the ability to finish it off, to round what they were doing into something so compelling that it would attract anything more than what was essentially a cult audience, captivated by their sound and willing to forgive rough edges. "Lover", and especially "Going Out Tonight" are perfect examples of songs that are all potential, reaching for some epiphany and never getting there. That "Going Out Tonight" was deliberately written that way, one long repetitive passage, does not mean it acheived its goal. Robert Smith did something similar in "lost", but made it work, escalating the tension and volume as he repeated the theme over and over until it practically blew up, greatness there. (As an aside, imagine Anderson as second guitar in the Cure? Could be . . . spectacular.)

And it seems like Anderson never will get there, that her talent is limited to what we have here. I'll take it of course, more please, but there will come an age when she no longer feels the call to toil in relative obscurity, and it's certainly evident at this point that Sing Sing and I is not going to scale the heights, sorry to say. That's too bad, because with some help her essential sound could really take off. I don't believe that sound has seen its day, it wasn't given a fair chance. With the right producer and the right song-writing partner, Emma Anderson the shoegazer still might. But the days are growing short.

Note: Apologies to O'Neil and the production, not meaning to be critical, the record sounds fine; that's not intended to be my point. By all means make another one, and the best of luck.