Andrew is Andrew Sandoval, the 28-year-old wunderkind of pop historians.
Best known to record geeks for overseeing that exemplary Monkees
reissue
series for Rhino in the mid-'90s, Sandoval seems to have an instinctive
understanding of '60s music tropes. His 1997 EP, Million Dollar
Movie, was
a five-years-in-the-making gem, five beautifully catchy and heartfelt
orchestral pop songs with enough winsome vocals, baroque orchestrations,
plaintive minor-key melodies and lyrical heartache to be a long-lost
follow-up to the first Bee Gees album. Indeed, a lovely remake
of the
ultra-obscure brothers' Gibb song "Nobody's Someone" closes the
too-brief
record, and sounds like an original.
The other four songs from Million Dollar Movie -- "Dream About
You," "Here
Hear," the Merseybeatish "What Do You See In Me" and the bittersweet
career
high-point "The Man Who Would Be King" -- are included on the
full-length A
Beautiful Story and, if anything, the album's other ten songs
are even more
lush and melodic. With full orchestral arrangements by soundtrack
composer
Roger Neill and an all-star guest list including Peter Holsapple,
Jon
Brion, Ric Menck, Danny Benair and Probyn Gregory, A Beautiful
Story is
simply gorgeous to listen to. Echoes of not just the Bee Gees,
but the
Left Banke, the Hollies, the Zombies and the first couple Nilsson
albums
abound here, but what's remarkable about A Beautiful Story is
that it's not
merely the sum of its influences.
Andrew adds enough personality -- admittedly, an almost relentlessly
downcast
personality, but personality nonetheless -- to the proceedings
so that A
Beautiful Story doesn't share in the flaws of, say, a Wondermints
record.
Andrew doesn't appear to be interested in recreating records from
the '60s,
but in using elements of '60s music in a more personal songwriting
style.
The first-person lyrics focus almost exclusively on the downside
of love
("Unrequited Life" is probably the key song title), and in this
context,
the hints of folk-rock guitar or sunshine-pop harmonies gain an
emotional
heft. You're almost tempted to see Andrew as Rob Fleming in High
Fidelity,
wondering if the romantic trauma these songs portray is in some
way related
to the idealization of love as presented in the average Monkees
single.
Or you can just hear A Beautiful Story as an exquisite orchestral-pop
song
cycle and one of the best '60s-derived pop records since Matthew
Sweet's In
Reverse. The beauty of the album is that it works either way.
(www.vibro-phonic.com)
–Stewart Mason
A 14-track song cycle with full orchestral accompaniment and heavy-hitting
support Andrew Sandoval's debut album boasts guest spots from
Peter Holsapple (dBs), John Convertino (Calexico), Probyn Gregory
(The Wondermints), and Dan Schwartz (Sheryl Crow) - and that's
even without mentioning the co-producers, engineers and arrangers.
No wonder A Beautiful Story sounds like the apex of a career rather
than a beginning. Best known for his work in the re-issue field
(co-coordinating releases by The Beach Boys and The Monkees),
singer/songwriter Sandoval has created a themed collection of
perfect-pop ballads about unrequited love.
Paul Johnson
Influenced by: THE LEFT BANKE, THE BEACH BOYS, NILSSON
Kindred Spirits: THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH, THE JIGSAW SEEN, ELVIS COSTELLO
Rating: 4
Who? Singer/songwriter Andrew Sandoval and guests galore.
Sounds like: A 14 track song cycle of big, beautiful orchestral
pop, full of harpsichords, harmoniums, cellos and Chamberlains.
How Is It? Superb. If you listened with a blindfold on, you might
be convinced this was an unreleased follow-up to Pet Sounds.
Kindred spirits: The Left Banke, mid-period Kinks, Beach Boys.
Are we on the verge of a pure pop renaissance? Are the classics-as set down by the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Love, the Turtles, the Buffalo Springfield, and countless more -being reinterpreted, reinvented, for the new millennium? Judging by the uniform excellence of these records, the power pop underground is growing up!
After a handful of singles and an EP, California pop wunderkind
Andrew Sandoval finally releases his first long-player, and it's
a masterpiece. Built upon a foundation of '60s influenced folk/pop,
A Beautiful Story is a dazzling display that pretty much buries
most similarly minded neo-classicist popsters. Neither empty nostalgia
nor blatant imitation, this record inexplicably extends the sonic
legacy set forth by the Zombies' Odessey & Oracle and the Beach
Boys' Pet Sounds and dozens of other '60s icons), not only through
the strength of the songwriting, but with its gorgeous orchestral
pop arrangements and Sandoval's uncanny melodic grandeur. An engineer
for Rhino who's had a big hand in that label's Monkees reissue
program - and therefore accustomed to working with the subtleties
of sonic dynamics - Sandoval here zeroes in on the feel, the emotional
undertow, of classic pop, and punctuates his songs (most of them
centered on love in all its permutations) accordingly with harmonium,
harpsichord, a myriad of keyboards, cello, and lots of 12-string
guitar. His sandy voice, reminiscent of Chris Stamey and King
of America-era Elvis Costello, suits the alternately joyful and
melancholic material like a glove. The entire sweep of the album
will get under your skin - though certain numbers, like the remarkable
"Unrequited Life" and the towering baroque mind meld of "Dream
About You"- with the wicked dancing harpsichord -clearly stand
out. "Wondering," with its majestic grand piano movement - which
segues into an astounding harmonium sequence-is sublime. If this
is the direction underground pop music is headed, we're all in
for quite a ride. Note: Lots of familiar faces pitch in-Peter
Holsapple and various musicians associated with Velvet Crush,
Calexico, the Three O'clock, the Wondermints, etc.