Product Description
tracklist
anyway
brave parade
all there is
guessing game
robin
what heaven is for
permafrost
rail
our corner drowning
blue moon
we said
dry spell
electroculture
filled
Please note that there is a saw/drill through the spine on one side. These came back from our distributor this way and have been sitting in our warehouse for years. Don’t worry, though, the band still receives full royalty on these sales!!
AREA is Lynn Canfield, Henry Frayne, Steve Jones
This is a reissue of their fourth album – from 1989 – originally releases on C’est La Mort, but only in a very limited quantity of approximately 1000 cds. This reissue recreates the original album graphics with lyrics remembered by Lynn…
Did you know that Steve Jones of Area has another band, The Arms of Someone New? Their two long lost LPs have been reissued on Projekt: Archive. Click Here.
Reviews Editor –
From Option
I really, really like this band. Vocalist Lynn Canfield (uncredited on the minimal liner notes) has a beautiful, rare, ethereal voice. The tunes are simple, pretty, keyboard-synth-quitar pop. Lyrics are dreamy odes to relationships, past and present. Their first album was also well done, but much slower, with lots of quiet ballads and just a bit of upbeat pop. This has much more tension and energy, and is worth getting on CD for the clear, chime-like synth melodies and the four extra songs not available on vinyl. They’re being packaged like the next Cocteau Twins, but they’re much more melodic, and the vocals are more reminiscent of Kendra Smith than Elizabeth Fraser. Even my dad likes it.
-Lisa McElroy, September 1989
Reviews Editor –
From Alternative Press
Now don’t get mad at me, Steve (Jones, Area’s leader, multi-instrumentalist), but I do see a resemblance between Area and 4AD, espe. Fraser. She has a lower, more sultry voice and sings in real English with near perfect enunciation. Still, you guys have the same overall setup (female vocalist, two guys on keys-bass- guitars-drum machine). The band is essentially an “art-pop” band also; set the mood to poetic lyrics, not “too” pop. So don’t get upset when a critic says there’s a likeness. There is. Tom Petty sounds like the Byrds and XTC (recently) sounds like the Beatles. Big deal. The words “rip off” were not applied; that’s when to get worried.
Between Purple and Pink is Area’s third album in two years. And to be honest, it’s their most original, direct sounding bunch of tracks to date. There’s some real hook-filled, melodic “pop” tunes, melodic “pop” tunes here as well as moody, inner-directed texturally complex “meditations.” Two of my favorite tracks are “All There Is” and “Electroculture” (both CD-only; the label has recently dropped vinyl – too bad these aren’t on the cassette). The first track could be said to loosely resemble The Cure with the Bangles on vocals, or Blonde perhaps. Don’t let the comparison throw you. This is exceptional pop and these are merely reference points. The latter tune is the closest thing to a rocker on the entire album driving, layered guitars, floating keyboards and lush, double- the 14 tracks here are indeed CD-only. One complaint: no credits on CD insert, just song titles (tape the same?)..if I paid $15 for this disc, I’d want to know.
-Brad Bradberry, October 1989
Reviews Editor –
From Rockpool
You are now entering the great, middle-American dream state. Slow your engine and take a gander at scenery: wild, endless wheat fields, tangles of gnarl trees, winding, desolate highways and long abandoned farmhouses. Roll down your windows, turn up your car stereo and you can hear the soundtrack for the area. On this third LP, this trio of Midwesterners continue to develop their unique mixture of the beautiful and the bleak. Sonically the textures here are as cool and as impressive as a midnight blizzard, while Joe Papa’s vocals are made like fresh blood stains splattered across the snow. But there’s more here than just atmospherics. In fact, Between Purple And Pink shows the band to be progressing in a direction where hooks and chord changes mean as much as the overcast. The unimaginative will cite the 4AD mob as influences but we are talking about Americana here. Like Hugo Largo or Cowboy Junkies, Area make music for the quieter, darker underbelly of the USA. Explore. -Robert Conroy, August 15, 1989