Chris Von Sneidern - Sight & Sound (1993) CD

Chris Von Sneidern (CVS) dropped his debut album on us back in the early 1990s. I bought this CD in the used bin at the recently opened Amoeba Records in Berkeley while I was a grad student at Cal. I bought it because I had started reading about him and about how great this CD was in the various power-pop magazines I read at the time. Given that CVS was from the SF Bay Area I even hoped that someday I would actually get to see him play live.

This is record is about as perfect a debut as one can find. If someone had said that this was CVS' greatest hits I would have believed him because every song seems like it could have stood on its own on the radio as a hit. It does have a 60s or early 70s pop vibe to it but this is not a retro record. No, this is just a collection of songs by someone that has a gift and a stunning sense of melody.

Just a note in terms of sequence of songs. Listening to this CD again after many years, I am floored by the sequence of three songs on this CD: On the Run, Walking Endlessly, and The Ballad. There may not be a better sequence of three songs in modern pop music.

I ended up seeing CVS play in Berkeley not too long after I bought this record. CVS played at Larry Blake's Blues Club in Berkeley. It was a great show and he pulled off the songs and harmonies just like I was hoping it would. I ended up meeting CVS a few times and he was always nice and friendly.

Here is a link to a great song:

The Ballad