Sinceros (the) - ~The Sound of Sunbathing, * Pet Rock

Name: The Sinceros
Album: ~The Sound of Sunbathing, * Pet Rock
Year: ~1979, *1981
Style: New Wave Power Pop
Similar Bands: ELO, ~Elvis Costello, ~Squeeze, Split Enz *Teardrop Explodes, Icicle Works
"One-Word" Review: ~Harmless Quirky New Wave
*Tedious Midtempo College Pop
Based Out Of: London, England
Label: CBS Records, Columbia

~Cover, Record

 ~Record, Back

 *Cover, Sleeve, Record

*Back, Lyrics, Record

~The Sound of Sunbathing (1979)

1. Take Me To Your Leader 3:49 (single)
2. Worlds Apart 3:21
3. Little White Lie 2:50
4. So They Know 2:46
5. Hanging On Too Long 2:46 /
6. I Still Miss You 2:02
7. Quick Quick, Slow 2:28
8. My Little Letter 3:23
9. Break Her Heart 4:33
10. Good Luck (To You) 3:27

*Pet Rock (1981)

1. Disappearing 3:45
2. Memory Lane 2:55
3. Socially 2:19
4. Down Down 3:40
5. Barcelona 3:41 /
6. Falling In and Out of Love 2:16
7. Sleight of Hand 2:59
8. Nothing Changes 4:12
9. Girl I Realize 1:48
10. As the World Turns 3:05
11. Midsong 3:14

Album Rating (1-10): ~8.0
*7.0

Members & Other Bands:

• ~*Mark Kjeldsen - Guitar, Vox (Strutters, Danny Adler Band, Nick Plytas, Valerie Lagrange)
• ~*Ron Francois - Bass, Vox (Strutters, Lene Lovich, Teardrop Explodes, James Reyne, Wendy Matthews, Eurogliders, Absent Friends, Kaylan, Ganggajand, Fingerprintz, Nick Plytas, Valerie Lagrange, Julian Cope, Cabo Frio, Aleesha Rome)
• ~*Don Snow - Keys Vox (Lene Lovich, Squeeze, Anti-Heroin Project, The Catch, Tina Turner, Nik Kershaw, Wendy & the Rocketts, Holly Johnson, Jimmy Somerville, Judie Tzuke, Fingerprintz, Tracy Ulman, Roger Daltrey, )
• ~*Bobbi / Bob B. Irwin - Drums (Strutters, Lene Lovich, Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Roogalator, Balham Alligators, Paul Carrack, Carlene Carter, Hank Wangford, Geraint Watkins)
• ~Joe Wissert - Producer
• ~Bill Price - Engineer
• ~Mike Reese - Mastering
• ~Andrea Klein - Cover Concept & Design
• ~Benno Friedman - Cover Photo
• *Gus Dudgeon - Producer, Remixing
• *Graham Dickson - Engineer
• *Mark Chamberlain - Asst. Engineer
• *Aldo Bocca - Engineerig
• *Nick Froome - Asst. Engineer
• *Paul Riley - Producer, Engineer
• *Rob Keyloch - Asst. Engineer
• *Roslav - Sleeve Design
• *Niall Doull Connolly - Photos
• *Muff Winwood - Meditation
• *James Rubinstein - Meditation
• *Kip Krones - Meditation
• *Mgmt 3 - Mgmt

Unknown-ness: Never heard of this band. But found both records together in a dollar section in a record shop in LA. Couldn't just buy one: what if it was good and i regretted getting both, or what if the OTHER ONE was better. There was no time to consult the interwebs. It was vacation. The albums look like the work of 2 different bands. the older, Sunbathing album has a Jokey Americana look to the cover, and a very wacky / spunky new wave look on the back. The '81 record, with the black and white, just got done painting, JC Penny's photo shoot, looks colder, much more serious, and like it will perhaps be jangle pop or euro-new wave.

Album Review: These two records comprise the whole of the Sinceros Catalogue. Pet Rock was recorded to be called 2nd Debut, but that was shelved & re-recorder / rearranged to form Pet Rock by Gus Dudgeon famous for producing much of Elton John's work since 1970. The first album has some soft edges to the new wave, and lots of smooth harmonies like ELO and even the Bee-Gees at times. The punkier songs Little White Lie and I Still Miss You are solid new wave songs.

Pet Rock starts off more methodically and jangly, such was the direction music was moving at the time. The whole album has a more mature sound, not necessarily better...it sounds a lot of the boring music being produced in the mid 80's, and for that, I guess it is ahead of its time slightly. "Girl I Realize" is a short but fun Motown inspired pop track.

Stand Out Track: ~Little White Lie, I Still Miss You
*Socially Girl I Realize

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