Thorns leave me with prickly feeling.

Artist: The Thorns
Title: The Thorns
Format: SACD

5.1 Mix By Nick Didia
Mastered by Bob Ludwig


Take 3 pop singer-songwriters (Matthew Sweet, Shawn Mullins, Pete Droge), put them in the same room and the results should be some fine singing and songwriting. This part of the debut by The Thorns holds true, as we are presented with soaring vocal harmonies and great acoustic based numbers that are the best thing Crosby, Stills and Nash never did! Unfortunately, the sonic and surround aspects of this disc fall short.

The music:
As was already mentioned, the songs are very reminiscent of CSNY. The opening number, Runaway Feeling, has a Tom Petty-ish guitar riff with some lovely 12 string guitar accents. Think It Over is Deja Vu all over again! The same can be said of Dragonfly, where the dissonance of the vocal harmonies and guitars have David Crosby's name written all over it. The overall mood of the disc is like a nice blanket on a cold day. Comforting.
Score: 8/10

The mix:
Nick Didia gives the album a very staid, conservative mix. This might have been expected as the music is generally mellow. However, with the amount of guitars and vocals present, some spreading around would have been nice. The majority of the information comes from the front three speakers. Runaway Feeling might be the best 5.1 mix on the disc. It's pretty much downhill from there. Information coming out of the rears is subtle at best.
Score: 6/10

The sound:
One of the worst on any SACD I have heard. Vocals are compressed and cloudy. The talents of drummer Jim Keltner are reduced to sounding like he's beating on a cigar box. Acoustic guitars fare much better.
Score: 5/10

Overall: 6.5/10

Sadly, a fine performance is ruined by a poor mix and poor fidelity. It coulda been a contender!