This is the third album by Bay Area underground scene stalwarts The Sandwitches and it is disappointing to discover that it is also their last. If that is the case then at least they are going out on a high as this is a gorgeous album.
It's one part dusty Jayhawks b-side, one part Cowboy Junkies and would be perfect material to soundtrack a David Lynch movie like 'Blue Velvet'. 'Sunny Side' sounds like a fifties Sun Records cut. Lead single 'Play It Again Dick' perfectly sums up their oeuvre and could be off The Trinity Session albeit with a bit more oomph and 'Sleeping Practice' is more of this good good stuff. It sounds like the girls are hanging out round the piano in a bordello before the midnight rush and I mean that most respectfully.
'Dead Prudence' could be the Beatles in a clothes mangle. It's 'strung out' across eight minutes and is devastating enough to shatter the heart of a cold cold man. 'Miggy' is simply a beautifully plaintiff song that coasts along on harmonies. 'Island Jam' rolls by like a Pacific Ocean sea wave. 'Personal Hell' is suitably discombobulated with its in out vocal style. 'Wickerman Mambo' flies in its own fanciful face and sounds like a country hoe-down colliding with a funeral dirge.
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'Nothing But Love' finishes the album off in style, starting out with old time piano it waltzes it's way to the finish line. They shoot horses don't they?
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