Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 stars for now but it keeps growing on me, May 7, 2004
I don't recall why it was that this album caught my interest--maybe it was the cover, maybe it was the discount price at the store I bought it from, maybe it was the recommendations of other Amazon listeners. I picked it up and put it down at least four times at various places.This is an album that takes time to grow on you. At first listen I found little to like--the music doesn't seem to have much melody (at first), the lyrics are unintelligible most of the time, the singer goes off into mad screeching, and the band seems to be just making noise. Then I sat and payed attention, looked at the lyrics (thank GOD the band supplied a lyric book) and had a few more listens. The music is deep, layered, interesting, and challenging. The singer doesn't really sing too often "on pitch", and seems to be making up the rhythm of the words on many occasions. Sometimes, even with the lyric sheet, I would lose the words he was singing. A couple of times I played a game with myself and wrote down the words I thought he was singing and then compared them to the lyric sheet, often with humorous results. In many of the songs it sounds like someone is stretching out his vocal cords and running over them with a serrated edge. The lyrics are complex to the point that they must be memorized because they don't necessarily make traditional sense, and they're not sung clearly. Like this nugget from Pheurton Skeurto:
"down on their knees holding hairpiece see how they flock ten for some grapes trip over words with gifts and garage." Well, if you know what the h*ll he's talking about I'm impressed. There is a LOT of this kind of thing on the album, but the fact is he sings (or screams) it with such soul that you can empathize and scream along (although on some days if my throat is any kind of tired I can't even listen because it makes my throat wince just hearing him scrape his vocal cords raw). For two months at least I was happy with just exploring the first three songs. Seven, In Circles, and Song About An Angel are all incredible compositions. If you are willing to spend some time delving into the music (nothing shallow about this stuff) then this is album will definitely reward your efforts.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indispensible, February 26, 2002
You may already know this is considered a classic of the nineties, a cornerstone of the emo movement, and the best work of the band's career by many. What gets me, however, is how few people that have recently jumped on the emo bandwagon have never even heard of Sunny Day. This isn't poppy, the lyrics don't sound like high school love letters, and there's a lot of classic rock influence, but you cannot deny the way this album shaped emo today. Importance aside, just look at some of the amazing songs on here. "Seven" is the perfect opener, with tons of energy and a bit of a Rush feel to it. "In Circles" is next, a song that layed the groundwork for bands like Mineral and Appleseed Cast. "Song About An Angel" is my personal favorite. Like most of the songs on this album, it develops slowly, and takes time to be digested. "Diary" is best when listened to alone late at night, with time to read into the lyrics and take in all the nuances. Guitar and bass interplay is beautiful, and the drumming is very creative. I highly recommend everyone check this album out.
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Birth of 90's Emo ****, April 8, 2005
I like Weezer; don't get me wrong. They're clever, distinguished, joyful, nerdy, and smart. I've enjoyed their albums (especially "Pinkerton") for years now and I think they deserve much of the credit they get from critics. But why does no one point to SDRE's "Diary" as at least HELPING to catalyze a movement that would later become the end of the 90's to 2000's resurgent indie/emo scene? Fans, critics, and fellow musicians all pointed to Weezer's influence as the reason for a more introspective, lovelorn style in rock music. Very few name-drop SDRE or "Diary."
This confuses me a little. The album may be more diffiult than "The Blue Album," but usually critics thrive on obscurity. Think of obtuse records of recent praise - Arcade Fire's "Funeral," Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Walkmen's "Bows + Arrows" - and tell me music magazines weren't clamoring to be "the first" to celebrate their originality. My conclusion is "diary" was ahead of its time. At least the blue album had connections to accesible music; the Pixies' intensity, Beatles/Beach Boys melody, guitar stylings of KISS. SDRE were much more humble.
The music is fantastic. Rock Operas are said to take its listeners on a journey through a story. "Diary" takes the listeners on a journey through emotion, the very definition of Emo. Floating effortlessly via atmospheric guitar work and solid rhythm, the debut touches on obscure ballads, piano, and darkness, but stays mainly in the signature electric guitar/scream-sing/painful-love-lyrics bread and butter of the genre. "In Circles" of course became the SDRE theme song, but in 94 it spoke to thousands of mid-west teens confused by love. It remains one of the most powerful singles of the 90's, and the album is one of the greatest debuts in alternative music history.
Overall: 8 out of 10.
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