Wouldn't life be great if all music were as upbeat and pure sounding as the pop
that Chris von Sneidern puts out? His recent Wire + Wood CD is just plain
marvy, baby, recalling some of the brilliant sounds that came out of England in
the late '60s. Imagine the Zombies mixed with the Beatles mixed with Alex
Chilton and you'll get some of the pedigree. But this isn't Lennon-Beatles,
it's McCartney-Beatles, and every song has a happy chorus, a happy ending and a
happy sound.
I prefer von Sneidern's purity of
purpose to other power poppers (think Ken Stringfellow, Matthew Sweet) who
can't resist rocking out with electric guitar feedback. Then again, is any life
really this charmed?
(c) 1998 Charles R. Cross
(PO Box 1011, Berkeley, CA 94709.)