The Sundays - Blind (1992)

For bands like the Sundays that put out albums very infrequently (only three in eight years), passing fads cannot exert undue influence; consistency is the key to staying power. Thank God the Sundays never went grunge. On this, their second album, the forthright and spare power of their debut has ceded somewhat to lusher production values and more complex arrangements, but the good news is that the rest of the band's presence has caught up with Harriet Wheeler's crystalline voice. Together they produce such marvels as "Goodbye," "Love," and an off-kilter version of the Stones' "Wild Horses." The Sundays here sound like a more integrated musical unit, and for that reason Blind is the rare sophomore release that not only holds its own against the first album, but actually outperforms it. --Alan E. Rapp