Sun Dial's archives have been getting a pretty thorough combing through over the last few years and I'm all for it.
Firstly I'm operating on the assumption that you, dear reader, are familiar with the band. If not, you need to be listening to their classic 1990 debut Other Way Out right now. Set that going and head back here.
During this era the band had a great thing going with vintage Beatlesque UK psychedelic songcraft filtered through a spectrum of heavy Hawkwind meets Stooges space rock. They released two albums and a series of EPs in this style before pivoting to a more contemporary shoegaze sound with 1992's Reflecter.
Overspill Sessions is the latest in their archival release series and dating from 1991, falls smack bang right in the middle of my favourite era for the band. Coming from the same productive sessions that were responsible for the original Overspill EP and the Return Journey album (confusingly released after Reflecter), Overspill Sessions is both a great look at how the material evolved in the studio and an excellent album in its own right.
Looking at the track list you'll see a few familiar names if you know those original releases, but you'll find that here they're either substantially different performances or presented in new mixes that serve the material extremely well. There are also several songs that I believe have never been released before (Let It Go and Black Light) and they're very worthy additions to the Sun Dial canon. And the covers from these sessions (It's All Too Much and Interstellar Overdrive) could almost serve as a manifesto for the band during this era.
Highly recommended listening and if you fancy digging deeper into this era I'd also recommend the archival releases of Other Way In (outtakes from Other Way Out), Never Fade: A Collection Of EP's 1990-1992, and Rays Of The Sun - Demos 1991-1992 all of which are superb.
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