The Sundays : C or D

Well, when he goes "low" (snort) he sounds like Stevie Nicks!

Yeah, I finally heard the Sundays this year by accident from a radio on Primrose Hill. Then I heard them in a pharmacy in Dupont Circle. Then I heard them in my car on Chapman Highway, and I skreeeeed over to buy the damn cd. They followed me home!

Seriously, I prefer "R & R & A" – when their shtick was fresher – to Blind.

"A safe, cosy, misty-eyed 'Englishness' that would warm the heart of John Major but leaves me cold." - stevo

I'm not sure I understand these sort of sentiments about RW&A. All that aforementioned kicking of boys until they cry, being sick on one's dress, having thrown up no doubt due to the hideousness of the town, and seemingly just preferring to flee to the lavatory... If that's English for 'cosy' I'll be careful not to visit.

And the aforementioned dissonance and often odd rhythmic structure throughout has almost nothing in common with the supposed strummy whimsy typically ascribed to it.

"Here's Where the Story Ends" pops up in the weirdest places...I heard it in a Winn-Dixie in Panama City...and in Western Steer steakhouse, which is actually in the same shopping centre as that Winn-Dixie.

i never really got into blind too much, i think i've only ever listened to it less than 10 times the whole way through in my life. i don't really know why, i imagine if i listen to it more, and read the lyrics, i'd like it a lot more.

maybe it's something as superficial as her vocals being too quiet in most songs on Blind, and i always have trouble with songs like that. i like guitars and drums and stuff but i prefer to listen to the singing (and pick out the guitar from the background when i choose to).

Maybe this is where they invested their money.

This thread needs a pic:

http://www.ear.fm/Encyclopedia%20S/sundays.gif

Are they still a going concern? Not very prolific if so.

http://www.sirensofsong.com/harrietsiren.jpg

First album really still is just perfectly right.

just casting my vote.

http://www.phpbbforfree.com/forums/thesundays-about13.html

doubtful, though.

So yeah: very classic, and I'd love to hear another album.

http://www.sundays.secret-hideout.com/img/harriet01.jpg

the sundays are incredible.

the coda, the last four bars, of "hideous towns", are beyond music. they are magic.

the sundays are magic. too good to be true. incredible, etc., etc.

Oh yes, "Hideous Towns's" ending is great.

Yes.

"Hideous Towns" is one of the most perfect songs ever.

SO GOOD

I listen to my "Goodbye" b/w "Wild Horses" single a lot.

i love the five of you.

I just love Harriet's lyrics so much - "I joined the army/but it drove me barmy" - who else could sing that so earnestly????

Someone who's in Iraq right now? oh wait...

Sorry if this sounds snooty, it's not meant to and I wasn't trying to get political on anyone's ass either. I'm going to pull out Reading, Writing & Arithmetic right now. It's shine has dimmed over time somewhat, but I think a trip down memory lane with it can't be bad.

Also this will sound funny but it always reminds me of the chemistry lab I was in in college. I remember playing it on my walkman in that chemistry lab. It was absolutely stunning, couldn't get the songs out of my head.

>I listen to my "Goodbye" b/w "Wild Horses" single a lot

I went through a period last year of listening to Goodbye on repeat play - it would come round on shuffle and then I'd have to hear it several times in a row - by which I mean it's just heartbreakingly fantastic. The final section where Gavurin cuts completely loose and Harriet comes back in with "oh as the heavens shudder baby, I belong to you" makes this into pretty much the best single of the 1990s.

So erm, classic!

omg i'm breakin out the cassettes!

i used to imitate professional ice skaters in my basement on roller skates listening to the sundays - ah the life!

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, to my ears, sounded like Cocteau Twins without Robin Guthrie's dreamy guitarscapes, but in their place something ordinary. Perhaps having listened to the Cocteaus before having heard of them ruined them for me.
-- acb (acb), Friday, 11 November 2005 22:24 (1 year ago) Link

OTMFM

That comparison always strikes me as a bit odd actually. Where is the commonality? Not in the guitars, the singing, the lyrics, the song structures... May as well say "The Sundays, to my ears, sounded like The Bad Seeds without Nick Cave's unholy raving, but in their place something ordinary..."

Better comparison would be The Smiths crossed with Sugarcubes' "Birthday", surely.

nah, i get the comparison. if liz sang clearly around the time of heaven or las vegas, it'd be a pretty similar thing, i think.

and, what acb said and stephen quoted, i'm about to say this as a sundays obsessive (have their entire discography and about 10 bootlegs), that might be about right. but, that might also be part of what makes them great. but, hm, that's one to chew on.

i always loved the Sundays much more than the Cocteau Twins. the performance worked better for me, and i was happy to not have the guitarscapes on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. easily a favorite album from my youth.

i heard sundays before the cocteaus, by the way. if that might matter.

i think the less lush design of Reading Writing and Arithmetic (sans guitarscapes) made it feel less cluttered and more pure to me. i liked that it wasn't doused in ambient guitar.

my post before my last is silly. replace 'heaven or las vegas' with 'four-calendar', even though the syllables were clearer then, too.

this needs remastering!

and where can u get a cd-quality copy of DON'T TELL YOUR MOTHER in this day and age.

You can get it in most any dollar bin on the DGC Rarities volume 1 cd.

Or on Amazon.com for one penny.

wow! DGC rarities eh? really? that's genuinely brilliant advice. great stuff thanks!

hahaha, dgc rarities is CLASSIC! deserves it's own thread.