Track Listing

1. Skin And Bones
2. Here's Where The Story Ends
3. Can't Be Sure
4. I Won
5. Hideous Towns
6. You're Not The Only One I Know
7. Certain Someone
8. I Kicked A Boy
9. My Finest Hour
10. Joy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3219 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like the album's title, this music is about the basics. This seminal release from 1990 rerouted pop music for several years, and for the better. This simple guitar/bass/drum/vocal affair cut like a searchlight through the fog of tortuously overproduced music of the time, as The Sundays proved that more is often merely more. Harriet Wheeler's lilting, swooningly sweet voice is clearly the strong driving factor behind this debut's appeal, fore-grounded through spare arrangements and an almost timid rhythm section, though the timbre of Wheeler's voice is perfectly matched to David Gavurin's terrific 12-string guitar. Taken as a whole, the album bears repeated listening, even though some of the songs tend to blur together. The hit single "Here's Where the Story Ends" is rivalled by, if not equal to, "You're Not the Only One I Know", "I Kicked a Boy", and "Joy". --Alan E. Rapp

From Amazon.com
Like the album's title, this music is about the basics. This seminal release from 1990 rerouted pop music for several years, and for the better. This simple guitar/bass/drum/vocal affair cut like a searchlight through the fog of tortuously overproduced music of the time, as The Sundays proved that more is often merely more. Harriet Wheeler's lilting, swooningly sweet voice is clearly the strong driving factor behind this debut's appeal, fore-grounded through spare arrangements and an almost timid rhythm section, though the timbre of Wheeler's voice is perfectly matched to David Gavurin's terrific 12-string guitar. Taken as a whole, the album bears repeated listening, even though some of the songs tend to blur together. The hit single "Here's Where the Story Ends" is rivaled by, if not equal to, "You're Not the Only One I Know," "I Kicked a Boy," and "Joy." --Alan E. Rapp

CD Description
The Sundays emerged at the end of the '80s, with their demeanor and acoustic pop at odds with the house explosion and baggy phenomenon of the time. Despite this, READING, WRITING & ARITHMETIC is as compelling as anything to come out of Manchester or an 808 drum machine. Identified as a female-led version of the Smiths, such comparisons were borne out by thedynamics of the Sundays' central duo and the quality of this debut release.
David Gavurin's guitar-playing undoubtedly evokes the unpretentious expression of Johnny Marr, whether gently chiming over "Can't Be Sure", gaily strumming for the coda of "My Finest Hour", or whipping up a racket on "A Certain Someone". Harriet Wheeler's voice is from another world entirely: soaring, pure, acrobatic, doleful, and with a penchant for the self-possessed babbling of Liz Fraser. Where intelligible, the lyrics take Morrissey's conversational style and predilection for colloquialisms to the extreme, delivered from the perspective of a melancholic girl wracked byself-consciousness and pity. Each of the 10 tracks boasts an effortless sense of melody and depth of emotion that, together, belittle any attempt to offer praise. READING, WRITING& ARITHMETIC is simply perfect.

Customer Reviews

The best voice in the world!
Much as I'd love to sound like Harriet wheeler, I hope I've never sung along to this out loud whilst wearing my walkman. I could never match a) her voice or b) her style.

I can't explain how good this album is but every time I listen to it (which is still alot) I remember and feel something so deep that I say to myself 'this is definately my favourite album of all time'. And I hope Harriet Wheeler reads this one day as I'd love her to know.
I don't know what it is about it, or rather there is just too much about it which makes it my number 1. - Harriet Wheeler's pure crystal clear voice, the depth of the lyrics, the tunes....I have to sing along.

It's miles better than anything else The Sundays have done - Blind was OK and Static and Silence was a bit depthless (but quite nice). I wish I'd made this album!

The only thing which comes close in my opinion is The Cocteau Twins stuff (Elizabeth Frazer has an amazing voice too).

'Can't be Sure' why they weren't truly huge
I love this band. Right from the first delectable wafting of Skin & Bones, Harriet Wheeler is a pleasure to listen to, as she takes us through tales of lost and longed-for love, recreating a mellower world perfectly. Can't Be Sure is perhaps the best, with some interesting musical effects, but I ahve especially soft spots for Here's Where the Story Ends (one of the msot famous tracks ever to start life as an album cut, alongside maybe Stairway To Heaven, Yesterday, Champagne Sueprnova and not much else), My Fienst Hour and A Certain Someone. The quality of the songs never falters, and the voice was jsut created to sing, to soothe, to shine.

One of the best albums ever?
Rated as the 93rd best album of all time by NME magazine in 1993, the Sundays groundbreaking debut album could, quite easily, top any all-time best top 10. With Harriet Wheeler's wispy vocals (perhaps matched only by the voice of Frente's Angie Hart)entwined within a web of carefully constructed guitar chords and drum rhythms, the album borders, somewhat contradictorily, upon both the majestic and the fragile. Highlights include I Kicked a Boy, Here's Where The Story Ends, Can't Be Sure and, perhaps The Sundays most impressive song to date, the appropriately named 'Finest Hour'. This bitter-sweet and often enchanting album is a must for any true music fan's cd collection.