a staple of any nutritious music collection

once upon a time a band by the name of everclear wrote raw songs that screeched and wailed as art alexakis mused over his mistikes in life. as everclear's fanbase grew, the production level was upped, the riff (singular) polished and sheaned, the angst diluted, and the cheese maxed. yet the essence of their earlier efforts remained there throughout illustrating the difficulty art has had to shed the weight of the power of these songs. sparkle and fade contains the distressed misdirected anger (that has made everclear so popular) in its purest form. 'electra...' twists and pulls setting the scene for one of the most enigmatic albums of the nineties. 'heroin girl', 'you make me feel like a whore', 'heartspark dollarsign' classic songs in their own right. but sparkle also has some of the most underated everclear tunes 'the twistinside', 'pale green stars' to name a few. oh, and there's a lil ditty that goes by the name of 'santa monica'. genius

phenomenal

This album is the reason that I am such a big Everclear Fan. This shows the band at their high point in their career. The music is full of grungy guitars and great drum beats, but the lyrics are what drives the album for me. Art Alexakis wrote much better lyrics on this album than anything else that this band has ever created. He just knows how to hit people hard and tackles REAL issues unlike so much mainstream music that I hear today.

where would i be without it?

I first heard this album back in 96-i can honestly say no album has had a greater influence on my music 'listening' career. The everclear then was completely raw open and forthcoming. These songs may be over played on the radio now.. but everyone should sit down and listen to what art is really saying... stories of a brutally hard adolsence... growing up around junkie and the such. i saw him in 98-they may have being becoming more popular but they played most of this album and hell they rocked...especially heartspark dollarsign accoustic..magic