Beachwood Sparks: Beachwood Sparks

Beachwood Sparks: Beachwood Sparks

2000

Sub Pop Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Desert Skies  2. Ballad of Never Rider  3. Silver Morning After  4. Singing Butterfly  5. Sister Rose  6. This Is What It Feels Like  7. Canyon Ride  8. The Reminder  9. The Calming Seas  10. New Country  11. Something I Don't Recognize  12. Old Sea Miner  13. See Oh Three  14. Sleeping Butterfly

This is Beachwood Sparks' 2000 debut album. It's a psychedelic country rock album that's reminds me of "Smile"-era Brian Wilson joining the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"-era Byrds..



Basically a twee version of indie-country...But really, this transcends those comparisons...It's  fun, catchy cosmic-roots music...Take a moment to soak in that cover...That's exactly how it sounds...

I first got into these guys around 2001 after reading a review of their second album "Once We Were Trees..." I loved that disc and quickly picked up the debut and loved it even more...At the time I delivered newspapers in the middle of the night/early morning.in Tucson, Arizona...I had some pretty far out places on my route and I'll never forget the sensation of driving down the mountain at about 4 a.m.and looking down on the distant, twinkling city below while listening to "Canyon Ride." For some reason it's a moment that really sticks in my mind...Huh.

Most of the album adheres to the following pattern: Killer track,  brief bizarre interlude, killer track, bizarre brief interlude, etc.... Things start strong with the ridiculously classic "Desert Skies." Which gently bops along a  dusty highway with a hooky melody, wide-eyed, without a care in the world...Dreamy steel guitar drifting like lazy clouds in the sky...

I think this album, more than anything bridged the gap between what I was listening to and the big world of "alt-country." I was a huge fan of Elephant 6 and their retro Beatles/Beach Boys vibe and this fits right into that, except it's done in an Americana style...So a song like, "Old Sea Miner," that bridges Laurel Canyon country with  Beatlesesque undersea psychedelia, was exactly what I needed to hear to truly appreciate the simple pleasures of a pedal steel and a twangity banjo...

The band I'm in (TA-80) even eventually got around to using a pedal steel too! You can check out our video for the song "Gleaming the Cubicle" right here...

 Back to Beachwood Sparks...I'd recommend this to folks who are squarely into indie rock but are slightly interested in country...It seems to maneuver through both genres deftly, one never overpowering the other...Man, I loved hearing this again! I might just have to spin it once more, for old times sake...