Customer Reviews

Sleeper

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

 

 

A thouroughly enjoyable album. I heard the catchy (and very good) song "Red Rover" in of all places St Louis while I was their on business. I bought the album immediately afterward, expecting to hear more from this group. More recently I purchased an earlier album of theirs, Abort, which is also very enjoyable. I believe they were a small band out of Boston that never caught on. Lead singer whoes name is Janet LaValley has a great voice. Neither to radical or to pop, just enjoyable with an eclectic mixture of songs (and the only song I ever heard sung about the now cancelled supercollider being built in the early 1990's!) Gotta love that!

This is the 1993 second album by the Boston alternative rock band Tribe. Their first album, Abort, is a definite five-star affair and should by rights have been a big hit. "Sleeper" isn't in the same league. The songwriting and production aren't as strong as on "Abort", and the single "Supercollider" wasn't catchy enough to grab the attention of newcomers. But there are three great tracks: the wistful "Red Rover", "Crawl" (with its hyperactive chorus about "the spiny fish are breaking the barrier"), and "Dogflower". Look for "Abort" first, and come back for "Sleeper" later if you liked "Abort".

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

Tribe's first album ranks up with the best albums ever to come out of Boston, and yes, that includes the Cars, Aerosmith, J. Geils and Boston. It missed the horrible production that seemed to doom so many promising others like O Positive, The Atlantics, Robin Lane, and the Nervous Eaters when they made it to the majors. So one has to wonder what happened. Too quick a followup? Anyway, there are a few good tracks, Supercollider, Red Rover, Sing to Neptune, and the title cut. Others like Romeo Poe, Crawl, Mr. Lieber and Smile, have some good moments, but are misses. The rest are just not very good. Don't know whose fault it is, the producer or the band, but its a real disappointment.