Sixpence None the Richer

Item: Tickets for a Prayer Wheel
Author: Robert Berman

Tickets for a Prayer Wheel

(1995)

Reviewed by Robert Berman

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Label R.E.X. MusicThe LighthouseDecember 1995

alternative rock college rock folk rock indie rock

Sometimes you wonder if these people ever sleep. Aside from prolific iconoclasts like Frank Zappa and Prince, most musicians are content to put out a new album every couple of years. But scarcely six months after they made a Beautiful Mess of their second album, Sixpence None The Richer returns with one less member and nine new tracks, selling a few Tickets for a Prayer Wheel. This interim offering gives us something old, something new, something borrowed, and something very strange.

"Something old" starts off the album, with two alternate versions of "Within A Room Somewhere." The first is the beautifully fragile radio single from their previous album. The second of these versions, an old demo, features considerably more extended jamming than one might expect from a band whose songs have tended to average three minutes until now. If you've already heard the This Beautiful Mess version, then these two tracks are only of historical interest.

"Something new" would be two new songs which appear next. The first two, "Healer" and "Dresses" appear to be rejected tracks from their debut, The Fatherless And The Widow. Not that they sound bad; they're just stylistically more in line with the jangly 10,000 Maniacs feel of that album than the more somber approach taken with This Beautiful Mess.

Two instrumentals also fall into the "new" category. The first is a guitar/cello piece much like the acoustic/New Age The Wind And The Wheat released by Phil Keaggy nine years ago. The second instrumental seems to have been captured in a live improvisational setting; it finds guitarist Matt Slocum pulling out his echo pedal for a lengthy electric jam like nothing on either of their previous albums.

"Something borrowed" comes in the form of covers of Leslie Phillips' "Carry You," from her classic album The Turning, and Patsy Cline's "Love Letters In The Sand." Lead Vocalist Leigh Bingham delivers "Carry You" with a somber feel similar to Phillips' original mood, though her elfin voice contrasts with Phillips' huskier tone. Slocum lends his cello skills for additional ambience, with a Middle Eastern guitar jam occupying the latter half of the track. "Love Letters" is a peculiar not-exactly-1920's-jazz-sounding cover of the Cline standard, which demonstrates Sixpence's willingness to run off on a musical skew in search of a different sound. The cut also allows Bingham to pay homage to an artist she has long claimed as an inspiration.

"Something strange" barely describes the uncredited ninth track, a techno (yes, techno!) version of "Love, Salvation, The Fear Of Death" from This Beautiful Mess. It appears to be the vocal track from the original version, with programmed keyboards, guitar samples, and drums that make me think of Paula Abdul arranging songs for The Indigo Girls. This song is a fun novelty, but I have a little trouble treating it as a serious techno effort.

I expect this release was intended to please old fans, not garner new ones. If albums were food, this one would be a casserole, full of leftovers and semi-successful experiments. A collection like this is more like an exhibition for the band, a chance to do things that wouldn't (or didn't) work on a "real" album. For seven or eight dollars, I wouldn't mind having this in my collection as a look at the process of making music. But I wouldn't pay full price, and I wouldn't use this CD to introduce my friends to a band that I believe to be one of the best in Christian Music.