So, New Line sounds like they dug up a early sixties rock band’s long-lost debut and have pandered it off as a rock-revival disc. The presence of very active synthesizers really adds a certain veneer to the early tracks (I’m Going To Live…”, “Circus”) and makes the chipper vocals of Eddies stand up even more. The fact that The Sights have been around for 7 years explains the solid, confident sound that exudes from this disc, their third. What is striking about the tracks on this self-titled hunk of plastic is that each track is extraordinarily fast, spinning through three minutes almost as quickly as if each track was half the length. The “My Generation”-like sound that fuels the harder rock of “Will I Be True?” moves the band away from the pure pop that started off the disc and really keeps the disc fresh to the ears of the listeners.
This can be easily explained away with the well-below three-minute run time of a large section of the disc, but the sincere energy surrounding the band and the maintenance of their general sound is another salient reason why the first half of the disc disappears away in such a quick time. There is no denying that The Beatles are a heavy influence on The Sights’ music creation; nowhere is this more evident than during “Scratch My Name In Sin”, which actually spices up the antiseptic Beatles sound with a chaos that was found with bands like The Doors. Even though the plinking sound of the piano may be a little too corny for the fun (yet serious) outlook of The Sights, the band is really able to avoid the pitfalls of clicheness throughout.
The tension between their pop and rock sounds is a theme that runs throughout the length of the disc, with a track like “Last Chance” giving another notch to the rock side. It is during that track that the virtuosity of Eddie is really shown; elsewhere on the disc (and especially during the pop tracks), it is a too common occurrence that the riffs laid down are merely pedestrian constructs. It may not sound like it was made after 1970, but this self-titled album does not crack with the age of a dated sound. Rather, this is a piece that feels exhumed lock, stock and barrel from a certain period in popular music, and it is this vitality that makes the disc such a success.
Top Tracks: Just Got Robbed, Will I Be True?
Rating: 7.1/10
The Sights – S/T / 2005 New Line / 12 Tracks / http://www.wearethesights.com / http://www.newlinerecords.com / Reviewed 24 May 2005