Favourite Colours

The Sadies

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 2004)
• Original Release Date: August 24, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B0002MHESC
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,553 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

At first glance, it may seem that Toronto's Sadies have merely stood pat with their trademark blend of psychedelic country and twangy surf rock. But theirs has been a sly evolution, and Favourite Colours, their fifth full-length (not including various collaborations), finds them masterfully honing and building on their core sound. There's an emerging depth and pensiveness to their songwriting, a growing sense of spirituality and drama. The imagery is grand and vivid, seemingly drifting from utopian to apocalyptic. The heart of the album is a three-part suite (broken up by a dense, cinematic instrumental) that perfectly exemplifies the Sadies' deft balance of the ominous and the uplifting. The gentle steel and delicate acoustic strumming of "1000 Cities Falling (Part 1)" gives way to the trippy, atmospheric "Song of the Chief Musician (Part 2)" before culminating with the bright, sunny, 12-string-driven "Why Be So Curious? (Part 3)" with its refrain: "why be so curious when nobody knows the truth?" In this balance between tension and consolation one can hear echoes of '60s "cosmic cowboys" the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Flying Burrito Brothers. Exclusive company indeed, but with their sharp, fluid playing and broadening lyrical and musical scope, the Sadies are fast earning these comparisons. --Marc Greilsamer

Rolling Stone

Combining American groove rock with Spicy Western flavor, the Sadies have created yet another eerie and epic piece of work.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sadies Psychedelized, December 28, 2004

By	L.B. (Kingston, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

"Favourite Colours" is a successful departure from The Sadies' brand of surfer country music, drawing on the delightful strangeness of the Good brothers, Dallas and Travis, to extend their reach into the realms of Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead. More introspective and meandering this time, The Sadies take the psychedelic elements that have always been underpinning their hard-to-classify music and explore them at greater length. The result is more evidence that The Sadies are one of the most creative bands around today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars retro sixties style, February 15, 2006

By	MajicRay "Ray" (Florida) - See all my reviews

The Sadies are new to me;I found this cd in the library. I picked it up because of the picture on the cover--these guys look cool. But to get to the review--if you like the Byrds country period-- you will like this. I liked the instrumentals--contrary to some of the other reviewers. They have a country hippy rock mixed with a strange surf rock guitar at times. The vocals are sort of like the Greatfull Dead meet the Byrds. Great dream trance like feeling when listening to this cd. So if you like Hippy country --get this you won't be disapointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Righteous players, February 25, 2005

By	Outside Looking In (New England) - See all my reviews

I saw the Sadies perform a set of their own and then back up Neko Case in Boston a few weeks ago. I really appreciate the way they sound on Cases' live album, "The Tigers Have Spoken," but after buying their own "Favourite Colours" I wish I knew the music on this CD when I saw them.

We cannot seem to critique music these days without saying that it is "a cross between X and Y." So, okay, here goes my take: the Sadies' sound on "Favourite Colours" is a cross between the Byrds' "Notorious Bird Brothers" and Buffalo Springfield's "Expecting to Fly" (the great Jack Nitzsche-produced Neil Young song).

The studio serves the Sadies well on this release. They are a great live band, as demonstrated by the set I saw and Cases' album, but their intricate playing is really captured on this CD. The bass is nice and full and the drum sound brings to mind the way drums were recorded and mixed in the late `60s and early `70s. This CD is a mixture of vocal numbers (Travis Good's singing brings to mind Commander Cody's John Tichy) and evocative instrumentals.

They were selling the vinyl edition of this album at the Neko Case show. I wish I had bought one, after hearing the CD. (Vinyl for home, CD for the car).