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Album Review
by SashaS
11-10-2002
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More on: The Polyphonic Spree
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| The Polyphonic Spree's beginning stage |
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The Polyphonic Spree: 'The Beginning Stages Of…'
(679 Recordings)
The Polyphonic Spree ride into the centre of beauty
Some years ago I drove from Seattle, Washington, all the way through to Tijuana. The highway that follows the edge of West landmass offers a mixture of sceneries, from tall forests in the North, ragged coastline of Oregon, long sandy beaches of California to the humanity’s overcrowding Mexico always appears to be. I wish I had ‘The Beginning Stages Of…’ album by The Polyphonic Spree to soundtrack the drive.
For the sole reason that this is music that compliments such long and varied trip to a proverbial ‘T’ because it contains spaceness, beauty and sonic wealth. The Polyphonic Spree simply take off and fly straight to the silver lining… The easiest way to describe The Sprees is to imagine The Beatles and Beach Boys together in a studio, working harmoniously and backed by a Walt Disney orchestra.
Even if these two pop-legendary bands were together in a studio, the total number of members would be about one-third of those that make up the Polyphonic’s line-up. Probably the largest pop band in history, some 24 souls, it is a vision of, as usually, one man: Tim DeLaughter formed the outfit two years ago after the death of his bandmate Wes Berggren. This sunny-day pop choir is based in Texas, appropriately the biggest United State.
The artwork indicates ‘Selection’ and that is more than adequate as these are not simply songs, they are mini-symphonies. Sometime simple and direct, as the opening ‘Have A Day/Celebratory’, sometime rather complex and experimental (setting melodious vocals against the backing cacophony) on ‘It’s The Sun’, or as elegiac as a death of a close friend can be on ‘Days Like These Keep Me Warm’. There are much more energetic moments, such as ‘La La’, a nifty little rocker adorned with a psychedelic-sounding organ…
And, it gets deeply psychedelic on ‘Middle Of The Day’ with some ethereal choristers’ vocals and minimal musical backing, all the way down to concluding 36-minute drone that is ‘A Long Day’. The sunny, luscious, magical, be-witchingly beautiful, spiritual elements of the previous nine songs is confronted with the meditation-inducing noises… The Polyphonic Spree crew wear white cult-looking robes that make them appear like a religious cult but their only creed is music; in their hands it is pop music at its purest and most delicately gorgeous. Until Mr Hyde steps out for a splendid ending!
Might have to take that journey again now that I have ‘The Beginning Stages Of…’ It would be a completely different kind of heavenly tripping, methinks.
9/10
SashaS
11-10-2002
The Polyphonic Spree’s album ‘The Beginning Stages Of…’ is available now on 679 Recordings
The second URL is to view the video for ‘Hanging Around’ (directed by Jarvis Cocker) released on 21 October
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