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Editorial Reviews

The High Dials' retro mod-freakbeat songs work much better in small doses. Their album, A New Devotion, was a long blur of similar-sounding tunes that sounded ripped from the Small Faces or the Action's unreleased archive. This EP is much more interesting. It kicks off with a tight, bouncy remix of one of the best tracks from the album, "Fields in Glass." The mix boosts the drums and bass and peels some of the atmosphere off, leaving it sounding like the kind of track you want to hear blasting from car radios on summer nights. The sitar and horn-filled soundtrack to a day of mad shopping on Carnaby Street-styled instrumental "Things Are Getting Better" is also taken from the album, and sounds fresh taken out of context. The two songs that are exclusive to this release, "City Rivers" and "The House Where Trouble Sleeps," are not as strong, but don't let the side down too much. Two more mixes of "Fields in Glass" round out the set with the "Club Mix" boosting the drums even higher and stretching out a touch, while the "Stained Glass Mix" dubs the song out, sounding like a classic Stone Roses song in the process. Stick around for a hidden remix of album track "Diamonds in the Dark" that sounds like a brilliant mashup of the Cure's "Close to Me," the Stone Roses' "Shoot You Down," and a track from the lost second Action record. Tracks like this and the revamped "Fields of Glass," as well as the newer tracks, seem to show the band heading in a much more satisfying direction of sonic exploration. Tim Sendra, All Music Guide

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