On their first album, Florida’s four-man Chant plays energetic and sparkling Southern folk-pop with a strong R.E.M. influence. The peppy tempo and flat-picked guitars of “All Behind Me” make that band’s overwhelming impact evident from the very start; Walter Czachowski’s husky (but articulate) singing furthers the comparison. But the loose-limbed guitar jam of “…For You,” the striking country feel of “Heaven Assumes” and a spectacular cover of “Little Black Egg,” the classic late-’60s obscurity by Florida’s Nightcrawlers, help give Three Sheets to the Wind a legitimacy all its own.
Recorded in ’87 (good) and ’88 (very good) by two different lineups, Two Car Mirage contains more fine examples of the Chant’s unpretentious Byrdsy rock: sturdy and appealing originals energetically played and sung with plenty of guitar sparkle. The CD includes all but one song from the first album.