Once We Were Trees
02. Confusion Is Nothing New
03. The Sun Surrounds Me
04. You Take the Gold
05. Hearts Mend
06. Let It Run
07. Old Manatee
08. The Hustler
09. Yer Selfish Ways
10. By Your Side
11. Close Your Eyes
12. Banjo Press Conference
13. Jugglers Revenge
14. The Good Night Whistle
15. Once We Were Trees
On their second album the band further developed their country rock sound. With the melodic ballads Hearts Mend and the folk sounding Old Manatee as well as the beautiful cover of Sade’s By Your Side, Beachwood Sparks added more mellowness to the production.
There are a couple of good up-tempo songs on the album, the happy You Take the Gold and the rocky Yer Selfish Ways (with guitar work from J. Mascis), but in general this album isn’t as poppy and playful as the first album. It holds together more as a whole, however, and with songs like The Hustler and the already mentioned By Your Side there is also more soul to it.
Great songs with wonderful melodies and lyrics. A classic album!
The vinyl version features the bonus track Quietly Be.
Format:
CD, Sup Pop (spcd0545)
LP, Sub Pop (splp0545)
CD, Rough Trade (rtradecd036)
LP, Rough Trade (rtradelp036)
CD, Houston Party Records (hpr050)
CD, Underground Liberation Force Records (ulf0005)
Release date:
2001-10-09 (Sub Pop releases)
2001-12-10 (Rough Trade releases)
??? (HPR release)
2002-01-14 (ULF Release)
Recording details:
Recorded at Bob’s Place, Levrett, MA, by Thom Manahan
Tracks 2,4 & 11-15 mixed by Beachwood Sparks and Thom Manaham
Tracks 1,3 & 6-10 mixed by Beachwood Sparks and Michael Deming,
Hartford, CT
Mastered by Mark Chalecki at Capitol Mastering, Hollywood, CA
Written and performed by Beachwood Sparks
Line up:
Chris Gunst
Brent Rademaker
Dave Scher
Aaron Sperske
Ben Knight (additional guitar on 7 & 10)
J. Mascis (additional guitar on 9 & 13)
Further information:
Once We Were Trees press release
Discogs entry
Listen to this record with Spotify