Songs (click on the -icons for audio)
1. Butterfly
2. Anotha ?
3. I Guess It's How It Is
4. Written On The Wall
5. Goin' On The Streets
6. Sleepin' Alone
7. You Need Love Like I Do (Norman Whitfield & Barret Strong)
8. Turn-Out-City
9. Addicted II Time (+ I Guess.. 77"-version)

Musicians :
- TomNaso : vocals
- Peter Maene : bazz 'n' backingz
- Lieven Wouters : drumz 'n' backingz
- Luc Van Steenbergen : all guitars

Guests :
- Hans Francken : Hammond
- Piet van den Heuvel : Percussion
- Sam Vloemans : Hornz
- Carla Hoogewijs : Backingz

Production : Sticks 'n' Stones
Recorded at CCR Zult by Kris Van Steen & Kris Belaen

Sleeve : Baert Paleman, Dataset Turnhout

Press Release (my translation)

Picture this:
September 93 and four guys from in and about Turnhout get together. Nothing special as such, were it not for the fact that they would be operating under the melodious name

S t i c k S 'n' S t o n e S

This is both in a manner of speaking and literally because - what you didn't know : these boys make MUSIC.

Let's freshen your memory : Rock Rally '94. Does that ring a bell - other than that of the milkman passing by your house ? Right. They were the ones that got away with the silver cheque in that contest.

A nice story, but not at all the end.

The present in shorthand :
From the belly, the heart and - not to omit - all limbs, they bring a sound that revives the seventies in front of your eyes. Music that flowers like a garland. You know : the colors, the smell. Ideal to start dancing barefoot on the grass.

Invite them and/or ask 'em to your home, doesn't matter.

It's mighty good funky rock 'n' soul.

This Album in the Press

- Metro, januari 1998: "Their funky variation on seventies rock is both muscly and soulful, the band sticks together well and live-favourite Turn-Out City is now within everybody's grasp. ***1/2 "
- Humo (januari 1999) : "Since the silver medal in 1994's rock rally, little was heard from this foursome but the fact that they were working very hard at their band's career, but at their own pace - the pace of a sloth with artritis. That has now led to "No Suit!", a piece of work that puts in evidence that the band has not evolved spectacularly during all those years."

Did you see another good or bad review of this album ? Tell me about it !

My opinion

As far as unusual band-careers go, that of Sticks 'n' Stones seems to be quite a league of it's own : first they were hailed as a big promise 'cause of their place at the Rock Rally of 1994 (nineteenninetefour), turning down some rubbish record deals as being rubbish record deals, and rather wait 5 (five) years till they had enough experience and know-how to make a completely independent debut cd.
Understand who can. I'm doing my best, but this would be an easier thing to do if the music of the band had been in concordance with this independent attitude. Yet these people from Turnhout don't deliver some sort of underground-sectarian-straight-edge-commerce-sucks music, but welcome us on "No Suit!" with very accessible funky & poppy retrorock, operating somewhere between the borders set by people like Jamiroquay, Red Hot Chili Peppers and say The Black Crowes (and by them, of course the bands from the past that were an example to these guys).
Still the waiting was somehow worthwile, more precisely for the songs :
- "I Guess It's How It Is", the single that can be downloaded for free from their website, a nicely held-back melody that grooves on for 7 minutes, and talks about the burning shakespearian subject "to come or not to come ?".
- "Goin' out on the streets", my favourite song on the CD due to the nice contrasts between the various parts of the song.
- "You need love like I do", that takes a hipshaking shortcut to the seventies and resembles the earlier mentioned Black Crowes.
- "Turnout-city" (apparently the live-favourite) that probably will not be adopted as being the local city anthem, since it's quite hard.
Less praise for "Butterfly" (a good intro to a song that never comes), "Anotha?" (becomes interesting only after the word "motherfucker" has fallen and the brakes are released, "Written on the wall" (rather stereotype funk), and the closing song "Addicted II time" (that tels too emphatically that "this is really really the last song of the album") after which a dubversion of the single, ten minutes of silence and a sheep's choir follow to leave behind a feeble impression of a cd that dóes have spirit.
All in all SnS has delivered a cd that's not completely good, but still delivers proof that the band has talent and can handle quite a few styles. Furthermore, I'm curious if their "sales-model" (one of the first bands to grasp the internet-opportunity) is commercially viable already.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

More about this group :

- Contact : TomNaso Inc. Papenbruggestraat 76/2, 2300 Turn-Out-City, Belgium
- Tel : 0032-14.43.777.5 / Fax : 0032-14.42.62.12
- Mail : sticksnstones@skynet.be
- Website : http://users.skynet.be/sticksnstones

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on March 5th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

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