Customer Reviews

Sparkle And Fade

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This cd is by far their best album. I will buy you a new life and wonderful is all that is missing. Great band but Volvo Driving Soccer Mom?? the heck?

This album is the reason that I am such a big Everclear Fan. This shows the band at their high point in their career. The music is full of grungy guitars and great drum beats, but the lyrics are what drives the album for me. Art Alexakis wrote much better lyrics on this album than anything else that this band has ever created. He just knows how to hit people hard and tackles REAL issues unlike so much mainstream music that I hear today.

The first song I heard from this album (or Everclear) was an acoustic version of Heroin Girl. They may not be ground-breaking but I love the band because they sound so solid. When they perform acoustically they abandon their pop sensibilities and really shine, surpassing the album versions of their songs.
Art writes about life in a deceptively simple but touching way. His honest story-telling takes a conversational tone (with the exception of Nehalem- this departure into soap opera doesn't sit well next to the brutally truthful view of life the rest of the album presents). His multi-layered voice, like Sparkle & Fade, brims with personality, sounding lived-in and full of throaty angst.
Country-tinged punk pop sounded like my worst nightmare but Everclear make it work to powerful effect. Sparkle & Fade combines the angst and urgency of punk with the confiding, personal tone of country to make gems like Heroin Girl that you can never tire of because there's so much to hear. It's an album full of hidden subtleties and observations hiding behind the power chords.
It may take a few listens for this album to stand out but its well worth it.

I've been an EC fan since the mid 90's and have followed the band all the way through their career and have heard every single track ever made including cut/non released songs. Sparkle & Fade features the best, pure rock songs ever produced by Everclear. Other previous albums such as White Trash Hell and World of Noise come close, but are missing that polished sound that S&F delivers. With this album you get hard hitting songs and slower tracks which all have real-life meaning and grasp you into the world of Art Alexakis. Sparkle & Fade is simply the best Everclear album, and arguably one of the best 90's rock albums of all time. After So Much For The Afterglow, Everclear went too soft and lost their touch as they got away from their early roots and sound which made them such fan favorites. If you like pop get their more recent albums. However if you want true rock sound, get Sparkle & Fade, and you will not be dissapointed what-so-ever! If you're new to EC buy their rough and gritty rock album "World of Noise" and go from there.

-another great album from everclear, not as good as some of their newer stuff (they've matured a lot musically since the early 90s) Doesn't anyone else notice this?

What's the deal you guys? Everyone seems to rank this album for it's "cheesy" light songs or sounding alike. I personally think this album is way better than SMFTA, just because it isn't as commercial, and it's more creative. It has some great pure rock hits (Santa Monica, You Make Me Feel Like a Whore, Summerland, Heartspark Dollarsign, Electra Made Me Blind) but it also has a nice mix of softer songs that you have to appreciate (Strawberry, Pale Green Stars, My Sexual Life). This album put Everclear on the map for a reason, and SMFTA was reassurance, but if you want the REAL Everclear, not the commercialized Everclear, GET THIS ALBUM! You will thank me! Get World of Noise also.

ITs still a mystery to me why i dont like this as much as SMFTA. I guess to many of the songs just sound alike! Seriously though, if you dont know what i'm getting at and you have heard this album, you must be easily amused. OK, OK, all kidding aside, this is really a good album, though I stand by what I said before. The first song kind of repeled me at first, but when Art launches into Heroin Girl with that sleazy interlude, I was pleased. Songs of that nature are balanced out by the pacifiying Santa Monica, and Heartspark Dollarsign is fantastically layered, has a great hook. About half the songs are great, but there's nothing special about the others. Its just personal tastes I guess. Sorry that I cant be more specific about music. Thanks for letting me ramble.....

Eight years since its release, S&F is looking like a true rock classic. You can hate Art Alexakis if you need to, and rue the day Everclear started slouching towards VH1, but you can't deny the power of this album. The lyrics pierce, half the songs are perfect, and other half swing for the fences.

Very few albums pack the punch of S&F--the words capture real pain, desire, loss, rage, resolve and alienation, and the songs sound like the feeling behind the words. Other bands might play faster and louder, but most of them have nothing to say, so they can't rock like Everclear does here. Get this record.

This album shows a great band with lots of potential. It's a bit rough, but it is great. This is more of a grungy album than the recent Everclear albums, and they prepare us for what was ahead of it. It is a MUST have for anybody who enjoys any of Everclear's CDs, and even for some who don't. You can hear the potential this band has listening to every song. I recommend it to any fans of the band, and anyone who's heard of the band and is interested in hearing one of their albums.

oh man, those first six songs just hit and won't let up. In the very best way. It may be the best set in rock history, definitely in recent rock history. After the first six, there are a couple of good ones, a lot of filler. But oh man those first six songs....