Various - A Smile Took Over double EP

matinée 005  /  August 1999
Various - A Smile Took Over double EP
dbl 7"   $6.00

sold out
digital   $4.00


Various - A Smile Took Over double EP

matinée 005  /  August 1999

Unique double 7" features Matinée bands paying homage to the brilliance of Sarah Records. Sweet William takes on the Sweetest Ache, the Lucksmiths cover Boyracer, Ego does Blueboy with French vocals, and Uni (featuring members of the Fairways and Poundsign) nails the Sea Urchins.

Tracklisting:
  1. Sweet William - Briaris
  2. Uni - You're So Much
  3. The Lucksmiths - I've Got It And It's Not Worth Having
  4. Ego - Stephanie

reviews

Wow!!! A double 7" of Sarah covers! And yes - there is a Sea Urchins song, and what's most surprising is it's not the song of theirs that everyone thinks of whenever they think of The Sea Urchins (i.e. Pristine Christine) but one of the previously unreleased tracks from Stardust, You're So Much. In fact this EP takes its title from a lyric from this song. And y'know what - this band (Uni) actually do the song justice! Sweet William (not the goth band of the same name) appear here with one of my favourite Sweetest Ache tracks, Briaris, and The Lucksmiths cover one of my fave Boyracer tracks, I've Got It And It's Not Worth Having. This version of I've Got It... doesn't have the chaotic noise of the original (yes, that's right, all you skeptics, there was actually some chaotic noise on Sarah), but it works well, showing that the song, although great with noise, is a strong enough song in its own right, and stands up on its own two feet without the noise. The Ego track is Stephanie by Blueboy, it's an interesting version as it's sung in French, but I'm the least excited by this out of everything here as the original wasn't one of my favourite Blueboy songs. This is not a bad song but the other three tracks are so great that it would take something really superb to equal them. It's really great that people still care enough about Sarah to have put this together. A thought in passing - I wonder if the non-inclusion of Pristine Christine, and the non-inclusion of tracks by the three best-selling Sarah bands (The Field Mice, The Orchids and Heavenly) was on purpose? Maybe this is the label's attempt to bring less-obviously-associated-with-Sarah songs to the attention of people who may have missed them the first time around? Maybe they avoided all the really obvious songs in an effort to not come across as cliched? I don't know the real reason why they chose these tracks, but except perhaps for Stephanie, they've made an excellent choice.   --Aquamarine
 
Nothing to say about this recording, except BUY IT!!! This is a super terrif 4-song tribute to Sarah records by bands from 3 continents -- Sweet William with The Sweetest Ache's "Briaris," The Lucksmiths with Boyracer's "I've Got It and It's Not Worth Having," Ego performing Blueboy's "Stephanie" in French and Uni (which is a combination of The Fairways and #Poundsign#) performing The Sea Urchin's "You're So Much." Every rendition is lovely, yet unlike the originals enough to stand on their own.   --Popgeek
 
Probably the most ingenious idea since sliced bread! Matinée bands covering songs by Sarah Records bands! Every song on here is an excellent re-interpretation! Features Sweet William, Uni, The Lucksmiths, and Ego covering songs by The Sweetest Ache, Sea Urchins, Boyracer and Blueboy. And yes, it is every bit as wonderful as that sounds!!   --Tone Vendor
 
This is a tribute to Sarah Records and some of the bands on that legendary British pop label. On this you have Australia's Sweet William doing "Briaris" by the Sweetest Ache and adding the usual drum machine and keyboards into the mix while the flip Uni (Brent from The Fairways and a few people from Poundsign) do nice jangly justice to The Sea Urchins "You're So Much." On the other single you have Australia's The Lucksmiths doing a decidedly great version of the Boyracer song "I've Got It And It's Not Worth Having." To end the 7" you have France's Ego doing a Blueboy song ("Stephanie") but it's sung in French so it sounds nice, but I dunno what they're saying.   --Dagger