With both 2002's Stories Often Told and the previous year's Tremendous Efforts, Toronto's Sadies established themselves as feverish pluralists, twisting honky tonk, psychedelia, surf and punk into new forms. More meditative, this fifth LP hones the Southern harmonies and guitar-pickin' crosstalk of the brothers Good (Dallas and Travis) while augmenting the band with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock. "As Much As Such" and "A Good Flying Day" sound like reluctant outtakes from The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday. But the rest is too sussed to be mere homage, from the frontier-at-noon drowsiness of "The Curdled Journey" to the Gram-like "Why Be So Curious (Pt 3)".
With both 2002’s Stories Often Told and the previous year’s Tremendous Efforts, Toronto’s Sadies established themselves as feverish pluralists, twisting honky tonk, psychedelia, surf and punk into new forms. More meditative, this fifth LP hones the Southern harmonies and guitar-pickin’ crosstalk of the brothers Good (Dallas and Travis) while augmenting the band with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock. “As Much As Such” and “A Good Flying Day” sound like reluctant outtakes from The Byrds’ Younger Than Yesterday. But the rest is too sussed to be mere homage, from the frontier-at-noon drowsiness of “The Curdled Journey” to the Gram-like “Why Be So Curious (Pt 3)”.
