An album that ages finely in a 1992 barrel: The Sundays - Blind
*Post on Substack.
A wine reference was a fitting title for me to associate to The Sundays sophomore album, Blind. Listening to the re-issue of the album on vinyl (via Interscope records) I found myself tucked into the listen with a glass of shiraz, light-headed, and once again in my own world of escapism of the album. Blind still stands as my most beloved of the bands trilogy of albums during their career, spanning from (release dates) 1990 to 1997. And while it's not an album I find hard to listen to in 2025 as it has certainly aged finely, it feels and sounds like an album true to its year of release.
A comment on the vinyl release itself, before I go into my revisit of the actual music. I believe it's a timely release. The nostalgic wave of the 90s is going to soon be going out (as have the hopes of many for The Sundays to release new music), so this was a critical time to release an album that was in high demand in the rejuvenated consumer market for the vinyl medium. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic was given a successful 2024 re-release, so I suppose fans are now waiting on a Static & Silence re-issue. Either way, the albums playback has been relatively well received but by comparison to my 1992 pressing I feel the original pressing better captures the dynamics of the record. Some criticism has been poor care shown in the factory packaging (or dodgy logistics handling) with many collectors having the misfortune of damage to the album artwork sleeves. Some users have found the playback on some copies not up to standard, but I had no dissatisfaction with mine.
The variations of the 2025 release to the 1992 original is two-vinyl's with "gold nugget" splash finish, a physically heavier vinyl, and a more refined cardboard album sleeve. The original was a slim fit sleeve, and a single, lighter, black vinyl which makes for a less disruptive listen for me due to less record flipping. The lyric sheet is still enclosed, with one major difference being the addition of "Wild Horses" which closes the listening experience - a decision that was made many years back now for the USA compact-disc (CD) release to have it as a bonus track. I became used to original album release which excludes this cover track, so it still presents itself as a slight surprise on listen. The quality on playback is just fine, and I was still able to quite happily get lost in the dynamics I've grown to adore from the musicianship of the band.
My favourite medium to listen to the album is actually, believe it or not, cassette. There's something I love about the hiss of a playback and on my system in particular the low-end stands out so the rhythm sections get highlighted. The vinyl captures better clarity of The Sundays "jangle-pop" high-end delights, so understandably cassette doesn't capture the dynamics The Sundays crafted in their music.
So, why is Blind my favourite from The Sundays?
Much like The Empire Strikes Back was my favourite movie of the Star Wars trilogy - I like the darker sequel, which Blind is. I also admire it if a band can muster up the courage to strike the balance between the sound that delighted their audience with the debut album, but also present a variation in sound by slipping into creative territory - the latter often snuffed by record label personnel. Now in The Sundays case this achievement of theirs on Blind could be tipped as maturity in both lyrical content and creative structural approaches to the songs, notably how the bands dynamics (that word again) interplay around this structural approach. That tip would be correct. It was ambitious, and the darker tone to it is perfect to me, knowing music history will often show you that a pop or rock groups follow up album is usually met with critical creative pressures, especially during the era of record executive return-on-investment contracts. This commonly leads to poor album sales, and "creative differences" burying many a band into the musical graveyard. Time is not a luxury bands typically have in a follow up, and The Sundays had also endured a brutal passage of highs and lows following the bankruptcy of Rough Trade Records during 1991, one year after their debut. This would have been hard too knowing they'd had many options on the table for their debut. The result of all the above is the actual environment surrounding Blind would have been far from ideal, so the "vibe" on Blind is appropriate. Even the tour to promote the album was noted as being cut short due to members of the band suffering from home-sickness and the intensity of the prior 3-4 years. Fans would wait even longer for 1997s follow-up, Static & Silence.
During the writing process, the band was able to sign up with Parlophone Records as a launch pad to get a UK release of Blind, and David Geffen records (DGC) for their growing audience of
listeners in the USA. The band now had a home to distribute their next album out to the world - who had also been starved of live shows. Pre-internet, therefore pre-social media, magazines and television media were the key to finding out what was happening with a band, so the bands already established low profile personas were well and truly casting speculation if they had disbanded already after just one album which caught the attention and adoration of many a fan. No, the band was just chipping away at a new album under a weight of creative pressures.
So the band is dealing with sales and marketing pressures on the record label front, and also how the hell do you follow up a debut album that not only exceeded expectations, but also thrust you into the limelight so quickly that demand has grown out of your control? Well, in you're The Sundays you go into hiding, realise what you cannot control, and do the best a band can do to create an offering that will hopefully not succumb to the second album blues.
The Sundays music is written by David Gavurin (guitars) and Harriet Wheeler (vocals). If this is news to you, the unique fact of this dynamic (again, that word) is they are husband and wife - at the time of The Sundays, not married but romantic partners. This relationship extended into their organic love for musical creativity and resulted in them being the core songwriters of the bands catalogue. Paul Brindley (bass) and Patrick "Patch" Hannan completed the line-up with no shortage of artistic delivery on their part, although understated.
With the song writing falling on Gavurin and Wheeler (as well as band management), it meant added pressure that would have interfered significantly to their more carefree approach to music. An important thing to note about The Sundays is they were very slow writers, partly perfection for song writing itself, and partly the recording process. Gavurin had been vocal during the press-run for Blind that you can't force out songs as that is not how creativity works. Either way, the band had two and half years between albums. The majority of the studio work took place in North London during late 1991 and 1992 with Dave Anderson recruited as co-producer and engineer. This collaboration would also occur for 1997s Static & Silence with Anderson providing musical contributions. While low key himself, he is best known for his work with The Fine Young Cannibals and an industry relationship with Andy Cox (guitarist for The Beat and of course The Fine Young Cannibals).
The songs on Blind find a balance between the undercurrent shoe-gaze movement of the early 90s, and the alternative scene at the time, but never venturing into the heaviness of the rock sub-genre. Pop sensibilities remain throughout the 11-track run (excluding "Wild Horses") but a major point of difference from debut to Blind is I always hear the atmospheric delivery. The mix of the album is a big credit to this too.
Heavy layers of reverb and chorus from both Gavurin's VOX amps and small pedal array glisten, swell, and decay in his guitar parts. His work truly defines the aura of Blind, never shying away from texture and creative interplay between his melody delivery matching Wheeler's vocals or his rhythm section of Brindley and Hannan. Then he also takes flight where need be to power the songs to climatic crescendos or elevating the intensity. On the first album Gavurin is the protégé of Johnny Marr as he shines as the signature anchor to The Sundays sound. On their final album he comes full circle showing his diversity as a guitar player venturing into country and folk styles, his band mates weaving around him with the interplay only The Sundays could do. On Blind, Gavurin finds the middle ground with an evolution following Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but really conveys the underpinned emotion with Blind as a collective. Guitar playing needs feel, it needs a balance for the music of The Sundays between simplicity and, at times, detailed layers. Blind was the creative explosion that set The Sundays up to demonstrate continuation of their sound listeners were familiar with, but not to be alienated by, and then be able to finish their career with confidence in a departure in sound for Static & Silence. A lot of this is owed to the guitar performances of Gavurin, and the incredible fortune he had as a song writer in having the one of a kind talent in Wheeler's vocals.
Wheeler's vocals were pulled down in the registry to that of their debut, but she showcases incredible self-control of her talent to sing for the songs, and does a beautiful job in aligning her harmonies to just thicken the dynamics (again) that are coming at you. Her swooning vocals create such a phenomenal whimsical feeling that even when the lyrical content herself and Gavurin have penned treads into darker territories of the human condition, it still feels light enough to not drag the "darker feel" Blind offers into a listen that could be considered depressing or unnecessarily negative. It's a beautiful balance that is artistically created, and often at times cleverly not overstayed. In many songs Wheeler just hums melodies while her band mates craft passages of music that are so engaging it takes her from centre-stage, something their debut album just couldn't quite achieve - positively that is for the case of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Wheeler will always be the focal point of the band though, and Blind is unlikely to be top ranked by the average punters against the other two bodies of work for this reason that her vocal persona is less front and centre on Blind but, like Gavurin, I believe she hit a sweet spot on Blind.
And lastly the rhythm section. The thing I love most is the departure from an 80s drum sound to a kit that, for the most part, has the sharper cracking sound of a snare drum being hit inside a decaying 90s rehearsal studio, cutting through the cold air of a UK night. Hannan still relies heavily on 16th note hi-hat work to drive the grooves with clever note placement between his kick, snare, and toms, using a cross-hand techniques with admirable consistency. This is likely key to ensure the sound of the album feels like it's in that wine barrel from 1992, ageing better than than their debut effort but holding up as something feels like it's of The Sundays vintage. Yes, Wheeler and Gavurin may hold the key to the sound, but Hannan is the key to the feel. And this feel allows Brindley to play with a lot of freedom. Never overplaying, but also crafty as he holds the structures together as his work never interferes in Gavurin or Wheeler creating the memorable melodies or hooks that Blind offers. The Sundays rhythm section rarely gets the mention deserved. I actually liken a reason for Static & Silence being so different a sounding record from the band is due to the contrast in Brindley and Hannan's presence on that album in the way it is showcased on their first two records. The feel was different and that isn't solely due to the departure from the pop-rock style to a folk-country feel. Partly, but not solely. Hannah and Brindley had more presence than many realise and on Blind they're superb in just the right performances.
The 11-track run has an unpredictable flow to it, yet the aura staying consistent throughout which is something I absolutely love about the album. The feeling it starts with is the feeling that carries you through as the listener, and the emotion conveyed and encapsulated so well from initial listen, to now many, many listens later.
The albums release came in the UK autumn, shy of the cold winters that grace the region. October of 1992 came, with "Goodbye" being the debut single to break the bands silence to build up the release a few months prior.
"Goodbye" is a song that I could really explore writing about from a musicians point of view, as I would argue it is certainly the best composition by The Sundays as the peak of their creative delivery, but maybe even of the 90s decade in the "genresphere" they were flirting with. At a run time of 4:46 minutes it is never ever overstayed and I love that the parts that really hit your emotional CPU linger. The track is unpredictable. The guitar drives with memorable hooks and a gut-wrenching final crescendo lead melody. I actually covered "Goodbye" on the guitar as I was fascinated by Gavurin's ability to craft such a song. Wheeler's performance is sublime and ethereal, especially during her vocal layers of melodic bliss from the 2:40 mark. And Brindley's bass work is just epic - so much low-end that it dips the song sonically into the alternative rock space of the era. Listening to this on cassette his bass work stands out and he does such a solid job structurally grooving and driving the song.
Some things I can't put into writing without it seeming over the top or overly articulated why something feels so special to me, or making a case why a piece of art (subjectively) stands out to as better "than anything else". Yet light-headed, a few glasses of wine down, and enjoying the opportunity to have time just to focus on listening to music, that profile of the album is still strong and I stand by the way I look on this album, and most importantly hear.
The words may give you the reader some idea what makes this album an album that is simply brilliant for one or many a reason - but a reason that always strikes me is it is a lovely listen so many years on. An album that ages finely in a barrel from the year 1992 I can continue to sip, taste, and appreciate years on.
---------------------------------
A wine reference was a fitting title for me to associate to The Sundays sophomore album, Blind. Listening to the re-issue of the album on vinyl (via Interscope records) I found myself tucked into the listen with a glass of shiraz, light-headed, and once again in my own world of escapism of the album. Blind still stands as my most beloved of the bands trilogy of albums during their career, spanning from (release dates) 1990 to 1997. And while it's not an album I find hard to listen to in 2025 as it has certainly aged finely, it feels and sounds like an album true to its year of release.
The variations of the 2025 release to the 1992 original is two-vinyl's with "gold nugget" splash finish, a physically heavier vinyl, and a more refined cardboard album sleeve. The original was a slim fit sleeve, and a single, lighter, black vinyl which makes for a less disruptive listen for me due to less record flipping. The lyric sheet is still enclosed, with one major difference being the addition of "Wild Horses" which closes the listening experience - a decision that was made many years back now for the USA compact-disc (CD) release to have it as a bonus track. I became used to original album release which excludes this cover track, so it still presents itself as a slight surprise on listen. The quality on playback is just fine, and I was still able to quite happily get lost in the dynamics I've grown to adore from the musicianship of the band.
So, why is Blind my favourite from The Sundays?
Much like The Empire Strikes Back was my favourite movie of the Star Wars trilogy - I like the darker sequel, which Blind is. I also admire it if a band can muster up the courage to strike the balance between the sound that delighted their audience with the debut album, but also present a variation in sound by slipping into creative territory - the latter often snuffed by record label personnel. Now in The Sundays case this achievement of theirs on Blind could be tipped as maturity in both lyrical content and creative structural approaches to the songs, notably how the bands dynamics (that word again) interplay around this structural approach. That tip would be correct. It was ambitious, and the darker tone to it is perfect to me, knowing music history will often show you that a pop or rock groups follow up album is usually met with critical creative pressures, especially during the era of record executive return-on-investment contracts. This commonly leads to poor album sales, and "creative differences" burying many a band into the musical graveyard. Time is not a luxury bands typically have in a follow up, and The Sundays had also endured a brutal passage of highs and lows following the bankruptcy of Rough Trade Records during 1991, one year after their debut. This would have been hard too knowing they'd had many options on the table for their debut. The result of all the above is the actual environment surrounding Blind would have been far from ideal, so the "vibe" on Blind is appropriate. Even the tour to promote the album was noted as being cut short due to members of the band suffering from home-sickness and the intensity of the prior 3-4 years. Fans would wait even longer for 1997s follow-up, Static & Silence.
During the writing process, the band was able to sign up with Parlophone Records as a launch pad to get a UK release of Blind, and David Geffen records (DGC) for their growing audience of
listeners in the USA. The band now had a home to distribute their next album out to the world - who had also been starved of live shows. Pre-internet, therefore pre-social media, magazines and television media were the key to finding out what was happening with a band, so the bands already established low profile personas were well and truly casting speculation if they had disbanded already after just one album which caught the attention and adoration of many a fan. No, the band was just chipping away at a new album under a weight of creative pressures.
So the band is dealing with sales and marketing pressures on the record label front, and also how the hell do you follow up a debut album that not only exceeded expectations, but also thrust you into the limelight so quickly that demand has grown out of your control? Well, in you're The Sundays you go into hiding, realise what you cannot control, and do the best a band can do to create an offering that will hopefully not succumb to the second album blues.
With the song writing falling on Gavurin and Wheeler (as well as band management), it meant added pressure that would have interfered significantly to their more carefree approach to music. An important thing to note about The Sundays is they were very slow writers, partly perfection for song writing itself, and partly the recording process. Gavurin had been vocal during the press-run for Blind that you can't force out songs as that is not how creativity works. Either way, the band had two and half years between albums. The majority of the studio work took place in North London during late 1991 and 1992 with Dave Anderson recruited as co-producer and engineer. This collaboration would also occur for 1997s Static & Silence with Anderson providing musical contributions. While low key himself, he is best known for his work with The Fine Young Cannibals and an industry relationship with Andy Cox (guitarist for The Beat and of course The Fine Young Cannibals).
The songs on Blind find a balance between the undercurrent shoe-gaze movement of the early 90s, and the alternative scene at the time, but never venturing into the heaviness of the rock sub-genre. Pop sensibilities remain throughout the 11-track run (excluding "Wild Horses") but a major point of difference from debut to Blind is I always hear the atmospheric delivery. The mix of the album is a big credit to this too.
Heavy layers of reverb and chorus from both Gavurin's VOX amps and small pedal array glisten, swell, and decay in his guitar parts. His work truly defines the aura of Blind, never shying away from texture and creative interplay between his melody delivery matching Wheeler's vocals or his rhythm section of Brindley and Hannan. Then he also takes flight where need be to power the songs to climatic crescendos or elevating the intensity. On the first album Gavurin is the protégé of Johnny Marr as he shines as the signature anchor to The Sundays sound. On their final album he comes full circle showing his diversity as a guitar player venturing into country and folk styles, his band mates weaving around him with the interplay only The Sundays could do. On Blind, Gavurin finds the middle ground with an evolution following Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but really conveys the underpinned emotion with Blind as a collective. Guitar playing needs feel, it needs a balance for the music of The Sundays between simplicity and, at times, detailed layers. Blind was the creative explosion that set The Sundays up to demonstrate continuation of their sound listeners were familiar with, but not to be alienated by, and then be able to finish their career with confidence in a departure in sound for Static & Silence. A lot of this is owed to the guitar performances of Gavurin, and the incredible fortune he had as a song writer in having the one of a kind talent in Wheeler's vocals.
Wheeler's vocals were pulled down in the registry to that of their debut, but she showcases incredible self-control of her talent to sing for the songs, and does a beautiful job in aligning her harmonies to just thicken the dynamics (again) that are coming at you. Her swooning vocals create such a phenomenal whimsical feeling that even when the lyrical content herself and Gavurin have penned treads into darker territories of the human condition, it still feels light enough to not drag the "darker feel" Blind offers into a listen that could be considered depressing or unnecessarily negative. It's a beautiful balance that is artistically created, and often at times cleverly not overstayed. In many songs Wheeler just hums melodies while her band mates craft passages of music that are so engaging it takes her from centre-stage, something their debut album just couldn't quite achieve - positively that is for the case of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Wheeler will always be the focal point of the band though, and Blind is unlikely to be top ranked by the average punters against the other two bodies of work for this reason that her vocal persona is less front and centre on Blind but, like Gavurin, I believe she hit a sweet spot on Blind.
The 11-track run has an unpredictable flow to it, yet the aura staying consistent throughout which is something I absolutely love about the album. The feeling it starts with is the feeling that carries you through as the listener, and the emotion conveyed and encapsulated so well from initial listen, to now many, many listens later.
The albums release came in the UK autumn, shy of the cold winters that grace the region. October of 1992 came, with "Goodbye" being the debut single to break the bands silence to build up the release a few months prior.
"Goodbye" is a song that I could really explore writing about from a musicians point of view, as I would argue it is certainly the best composition by The Sundays as the peak of their creative delivery, but maybe even of the 90s decade in the "genresphere" they were flirting with. At a run time of 4:46 minutes it is never ever overstayed and I love that the parts that really hit your emotional CPU linger. The track is unpredictable. The guitar drives with memorable hooks and a gut-wrenching final crescendo lead melody. I actually covered "Goodbye" on the guitar as I was fascinated by Gavurin's ability to craft such a song. Wheeler's performance is sublime and ethereal, especially during her vocal layers of melodic bliss from the 2:40 mark. And Brindley's bass work is just epic - so much low-end that it dips the song sonically into the alternative rock space of the era. Listening to this on cassette his bass work stands out and he does such a solid job structurally grooving and driving the song.
I could write about each song in detail, but why bother? You're better going away and just listening to it yourself.
Go and find the brilliance with a deep listen (and a glass of wine if you will as I have done many a time). That brilliance?
It could be found in the opener "I Feel" - a cool follow on if you listen to Blind back-to-back after hearing "Joy" as the album closer on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
The atmospherically haunting guitar/vocal songs "Life and Soul" and "24 Hours" have some of Gavurin's most fascinating guitar performances, and Wheeler filling the musical spaces perfectly - and I mean perfectly.
The familiar comforts for fans hearing "Love" showcase the jangle-pop trademark of the band. Some even raise its likeness to the bands hit, "Here's Where the Story Ends".
The trippy shoe-gaze daydream one slips into hearing "On Earth". Listen to the live version - it's quite heavy actually.
The albums strong point is met right in the middle mark with "God Made Me" - a song with captivating intrigue.
"What Do You Think?" is a fun listen which would become a staple in the bands live shows until the end.
"More" and "Blood On My Hands" fittingly keeps that broody melodic feel of the album burning on Side A and B, with the intangible feel of 1992 being branded into what these two songs capture.
And lastly, "Medicine", a song that has the unpredictability, as each musician pours emotional conviction into their performance, the song itself reaching a soaring finale before fading out - the chorus and reverb quickly decaying. This allows for an immediate moment of quiet reflection for the listener - Blind concluded.
Go and find the brilliance with a deep listen (and a glass of wine if you will as I have done many a time). That brilliance?
It could be found in the opener "I Feel" - a cool follow on if you listen to Blind back-to-back after hearing "Joy" as the album closer on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
The atmospherically haunting guitar/vocal songs "Life and Soul" and "24 Hours" have some of Gavurin's most fascinating guitar performances, and Wheeler filling the musical spaces perfectly - and I mean perfectly.
The familiar comforts for fans hearing "Love" showcase the jangle-pop trademark of the band. Some even raise its likeness to the bands hit, "Here's Where the Story Ends".
The trippy shoe-gaze daydream one slips into hearing "On Earth". Listen to the live version - it's quite heavy actually.
The albums strong point is met right in the middle mark with "God Made Me" - a song with captivating intrigue.
"What Do You Think?" is a fun listen which would become a staple in the bands live shows until the end.
"More" and "Blood On My Hands" fittingly keeps that broody melodic feel of the album burning on Side A and B, with the intangible feel of 1992 being branded into what these two songs capture.
And lastly, "Medicine", a song that has the unpredictability, as each musician pours emotional conviction into their performance, the song itself reaching a soaring finale before fading out - the chorus and reverb quickly decaying. This allows for an immediate moment of quiet reflection for the listener - Blind concluded.
Some things I can't put into writing without it seeming over the top or overly articulated why something feels so special to me, or making a case why a piece of art (subjectively) stands out to as better "than anything else". Yet light-headed, a few glasses of wine down, and enjoying the opportunity to have time just to focus on listening to music, that profile of the album is still strong and I stand by the way I look on this album, and most importantly hear.
The words may give you the reader some idea what makes this album an album that is simply brilliant for one or many a reason - but a reason that always strikes me is it is a lovely listen so many years on. An album that ages finely in a barrel from the year 1992 I can continue to sip, taste, and appreciate years on.
---------------------------------
Artist: The Sundays
Album: Blind
Released 1992
Parlophone and DGC Records. Vinyl re-issue 2025 via Interscope Records.
Written by David Gavurin and Harriett Wheeler
Vocals: Harriet Wheeler, Guitars: David Gavurin, Bass: Paul Brindley, Drums: Patrick Hannan
Produced by The Sundays and Dave Anderson
Album: Blind
Released 1992
Parlophone and DGC Records. Vinyl re-issue 2025 via Interscope Records.
Written by David Gavurin and Harriett Wheeler
Vocals: Harriet Wheeler, Guitars: David Gavurin, Bass: Paul Brindley, Drums: Patrick Hannan
Produced by The Sundays and Dave Anderson
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