Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 02/10/1998
The second full-length album by
the Apples in Stereo isn't as surprising as their debut, 1995's
Fun Trick Noisemaker, but it doesn't sound like simply more of the same. Graced with a larger budget and access to a fully equipped 24-track recording studio for the first time, the group (particularly
singer/songwriter/producer
Robert Schneider) is working with a much larger canvas now, and it shows. The sound of this album is just remarkable, as layered as any of
Jeff Lynne's mid-'70s
Electric Light Orchestra albums, but with a freshness and energy that keeps things from merely sounding slick.
Schneider explores his fascination with
Smile-era
Brian Wilson on atmospheric linking tracks like
"The Silvery Light of a Dream" and the album's wordless coda, giving the record a sonic unity arguably missing from the all-over-the-map
Fun Trick Noisemaker. The one flaw is that the songwriting is not quite up to the consistency of the debut; while songs like
"You Said That Last Night," "Seems So," and especially
"Shine a Light" are exemplary, there are a couple of tracks that have a whiff of filler about them. Aside from that,
Tone Soul Evolution is a fine follow-up.
~Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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