Shane’s Rock Challenge: EVERCLEAR – 1995 – Sparkle And Fade

Shane | 2 July 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Rock Challenge: EVERCLEAR – 1995 – Sparkle And Fade
By Shane Pinnegar
9.5/10

Coming to grips with post-junkie sobriety in a far-too-small town, Art Alexakis wrote the ultimate ‘Get me outta this fucking place’ album – his alienation and daily conflict at having to live with far too many bad memories and negative temptations managed to resonate not only with other addicts, but with anyone dissatisfied with their nil-prospects, dead-end existence, losing themselves – in his words – “in a white trash hell.”

You can hardly blame the man for wanting to pack up and go “to Summerland – just a name on the map/ sounds like heaven to me” when those bad memories involved racism, infidelities, overdoses and the wasted years of a raging habit.

The miracle is that through all the disaster and calamity, Alexakis remains positive & upbeat. He may be kicked to the ground, but he’s looking for a positive way up and out of that mess of a life.

It’s this positivity, I think – wanting to run away to the beach so he can “sit out past the breakers and watch the world die” that connects so intensely and why this album remains so damned good almost twenty years later – the sprinkle of pin-holes through the dark quilt of night that drapes over the light.

Best tracks: Heroin Girl, You Make Me Feel Like A Whore, Santa Monica, Heartspark Dollarsign, Pale Green Stars, Chemical Smile