| Brightside | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Viva Saturn |
| Cover: | Brightside (Viva Saturn album).jpg |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Label: | Restless[1] |
| Producer: | Matt Piucci, Steven Roback |
| Prev Title: | Soundmind |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Ships of Heaven |
| Next Year: | 1998, unreleased |
Brightside is an album by the American band Viva Saturn, released in 1995.[2] [3] It was the band's final album, as Restless Records chose not to release 1998's Ships of Heaven.[4]
The album was produced by Matt Piucci and Steven Roback, former bandmates in the Rain Parade. It closes with a cover of "One for My Baby", a song made popular by Frank Sinatra; the cover first appeared on the Sinatra tribute album, Chairman of the Board: Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra.[5] Roback wrote or cowrote nine of the 11 songs.[6]
Trouser Press thought that "the somber 'String Me Out a Line' conveys aching loneliness with haunting clarity, its gentle acoustic instrumentation and quiet vocal harmonies making it Brightsides most memorable track."[7] Stereo Review called the album "a well-crafted slice of retro-psychedelic pop-rock."[8] The Stafford Post noted the "road-friendly rockers" and "drowsy psychedelia."[9]
The Province opined that, "as Piucci and Roback were members of Rain Parade, a major player in L.A.'s Paisley Underground scene of the mid-'80s, Viva Saturn could also be seen by both as a chance to resolve some unfinished aspects of their past... Unfortunately, Brightside, while attractive, is less substantial than any of their other projects." Billboard concluded that Piucci "is especially impressive; his stint backing Neil Young in Crazy Horse is noticeable in his taut, laconic lead work."[10]
AllMusic wrote that "Roback's detached, nasal twang blends nicely into an atmospheric backdrop of textured guitars, piano accents and feedback." The Rough Guide to Rock determined that the album "continued [the Rain Parade's] journey, rediscovering the plaintive melodicism mislaid in their 1988 comeback."[11]