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Sixpence None The Richer were from Texas. Texas weren't.
They pulled off one of the more remarkable comebacks of the 1990s with 1997's album White On Blonde, dismissing their previous one-hit-wonder reputation by picking up on contemporary RnB sounds and concentrating on photogenic frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri, who became the face of the band in almost all subsequent videos and artwork.
Like so many bands in this position, they couldn't resist following it up with more of the same. 'Summer Son' comes from The Hush, and whilst it became their seventh consecutive Top 10 hit, it does sound like the formula is starting to wear a little thin. There's a trace of disco in the bell-like percussion (reminds me of 'Can You Feel It?' by the Jacksons - apparently there's also a Giorgio Moroder mix of this somewhere) and it meshes well enough with the biting guitars, but the bass end of the production sounds as dated as you might expect from something that was trying hard to sound modern ten years ago, and the song itself doesn't quite seem to get into gear. Enough time seems to have passed now that I can admit it when I like a song by Texas, but this doesn't quite seem to hit the spot - in fact I prefer the single that broke their Top 10 run, 'When We Are Together'.
And I can't let this pass without mentioning the rather odd video, which seems to interpret the notion of the Summer Son a bit too literally. Maybe Spiteri just wanted to be felt up by a topless male model.
Also appearing on: Now 36, 37, 38, 38, 43, 47, 48, 49, 56, 62, 63
Available on: The Hush
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