Customer Reviews

Just Like the Fambly Cat

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a melancholy and wonderous listen...goodbye's are always so sad, especially when you know you'll never see them again. I wish the boys would tour in support, but alas...The album is great, what Grandaddy was meant to be (IMO). Do they blaze new trails into uncharted territory?..no, and I'm glad. I wanted the last Grandaddy album to be a Grandaddy album and they did a spectacular job. 14 tracks, 11 of which are magic, 2 hold there own, and then there is "..what happened..", the opener, which I will never skip on the CD player...it sets the tone for the last hurrah. The last 1/3 of the album is just plain ridiculous (in a good way). Elevate, Campershell, Disconnecty..OH MAN! It does indeed sound like a "best of" of all new songs...Crystalline production, as always...this will be in rotation for a LONG TIME. A pleasure to watch this band grow throughout the years...thanks Jason, Aaron, Tim, Jim and Kev...You're disconnected but we still love you! PEACE.

Ah, memories...
Just Like The Fambly Cat is most definitely a record for the fans. And this review is going to also be for the fans. Let's look back, one last time:

Remember "El Caminos in the West?" I do. I thought that was as rocking as Grandaddy was going to let themselves get. Boy was I wrong! Album opener (and appropriately named head-banger) "Jeez Louise" gets things going at full volume. Jason Lytle sings with more of a snarl than ever before.
Or how about "Broken Household Appliance National Forest?" What I loved about that song the first time hearing it through was Grandaddy's complete disregard for verse-chorus-verse. Instead, if they wanted a guitar solo, hell, there'd be a solo. The solo would fade out into silence, and then the verse would star up again. Track 3 on JLTFC, "Summer... It's Gone," takes turns that are just as unpredictable and exciting. I don't wanna ruin the surprise for you, but edgy pop songs turn into martian landscapes and back again.
And you know what, there's no shame in repeating the same four chords for five minutes. It worked wonders on "Laughing Stock," and it's even more powerful (much more) on "This is How it Always Starts." Digital whooshes break like waves over the "ooo"s and "aaa"s that have become a staple of the Grandaddy sound. And this time, I can't sense the slightest reservation in the vocal performance.

But this isn't just a record of rehashed ideas. There's a lot of new ground as well. "Elevate Myself" for instance is unlike any Grandaddy song I've ever heard. It seems to be a song about the struggles Jason Lytle has had being in this band, or writing music, or whatever it is that troubles him.
"I don't wanna work all night and day on writing songs that make the young girls cry / or playing little solos on a keyboard the kids'll ask me how and why." and then later on "I don't wanna be a part of all the quality that falls apart these days / I'd rather make an honest sound and watch it fly around and then be on my waaaay."
And this is the single, folks.

Most notably though, is the production. Every sound on this record fits flawlessly with every other sound. Songs twist and turn in ways that are more than welcome, they are thrilling. Pop songs are outfitted with screeching keyboards and string arrangements, all in the same breath. Then the songs themselves melt away, but always manage to find themselves.

Unfortunately, this isn't THE perfect Grandaddy record every Grandaddy fan knows these guys had in them. There are still a couple of tracks that don't hold up. But, by the end of the record, it's impossible to not feel that the world of music is taking a huge loss by the break up of this band.

If you've never heard Grandaddy before, this album is their most indulgent, but don't let that scare you. I know I said that this record is for the fans, but after listening to it, you'll be one, too.

Although I really hate to have this band go, what a way to bow out. This sixty year old has been blown away by Grandaddy since their beginning. I have seen them twice (a third if you count playing with Giant Sand), and am constantly mesmerized by their unique sound. This album is as good as their earlier efforts and make it even harder to say goodbye. What a great album, I recommend it for everybody. I will really miss them!

This is a fitting encore album for a band that truly defined rainy day / space pop music. This album is a solid listen from start to end, and any true grandaddy fan will appreciate the return to form for the band. The Diary of Toddzilla EP foreshadowed the theme of this final opus by band leader Jason Lytle, expressing his melancholic distress about leaving his hometown of modesto, CA. While the anger is less prevalent in this release, clearly Lytle is moving on and I have a feeling this will not be the last music we hear from him personally (I hope anyways). The album ends with a rendition of ELO's outro "shangri-la" from their New World Record Album, complete with operatic overtures. Overall this is an excellent album and the band will be sorely missed in this day and age of uninspired new music.

Nothing saddens me more than to see this band dismember. I think this album is an awesome way to see a good thing finally go. I mean to go out humbly and peacefully...just like a cat does.
The mastermind behind Grandaddy, Jason Lytle, is nothing less than a musical prodigy and poet. I believe summing up all of Grandaddy's material this record couldn't be more comprehensive. It covers just about every showground the band tried to discover. It encompasses that beautiful melodic glow of the early and yet still has time to punch the power cords for a few punk-style favorites.
The album really helps the band come full circle, if there is such a thing. It is a collection of tales expressed without fault, all the way from the innocence of the opener to the dramatic and theatrical close.
"I'll never return.....to Shangri La"---------It will whisp you away.

Come on! This is an incredible CD. People are always talking about wanting to discover something different - this is it. By different, I don't mean to say weird and inaccessible. No, this is really great stuff, and it sounds like nothing else out there. It could perhaps be the offspring of a pairing of, bizarre as it sounds, the Beatles and Weezer. Be patient. A first listen can sound corny to the uninitiated. Repeated listening will reveal an inspired depth and vision. OK, I'm making myself sick. But really, this deserves a listen.

It has been described as the Grandaddy greatest hits album that had yet been released. Lets be honest, though- this was written by many who are big Grandaddy fans. So is that blind lust, or more truthful than one would like to believe?

Well, it has its moments. There are moments where you are left with your throat swelling, chin quivering, and eyes tearing. Then, like most Grandaddy albums, well, things get a bit wierd. This time, meowing is involved.

Lets get the trivial negativity out of the way. One could very easily argue that this is a disjointed album that was overproduced, over-Grandaddy-fied, and suffered from the band breaking up along the way. There are three "filler" tracks that are just about 2 minutes and less that aren't really songs, but transitional pieces, intros/outros, or just plain "Hey, this sounds nice, lets throw this in here." There are less killer songs than on the other albums that stand out on the first listen. The Warming Sun? Not on this one. The solid pop rock album that was Sumday isn't here. And frankly, there is a lot more guitar and feedback on this album than in the past. one can read a heavy-handed disappointment with the recording industry into at least half the songs on this album. Jed is dead indeed. Cats have taken over this album from the computers.

NOW- having said that, I am in no way disinterested in this album, and one should not read too far into the above but take it with a grain of salt. Because lets be honest, Grandaddy makes some very lovely music as long as you can tolerate the bleeps, bloops, and blops. Where the Grandaddy greatest hits comes into play is that there are some amazing tracks on this album. The trio of Jeez Louise, Summer...It's Gone, and Rear View Mirror (the first three proper songs) get this album started out so sublimely, that I've yet to make it through the first 5 tracks without feeling a little melancholy that this is truly the end of Grandaddy. There must be more beauty to be born from their music. There has to be. Guide Down Denied, Elevate Myself, and This is how it always starts highlight the final 5 tracks that fade the legacy out. Elevate Myself, a manifesto of Lytle's to resist the temptation to cheapen his music, makes vitriol easy to bounce to. This Is How It Always Starts wraps up the album proper with a lament to the band amidst the chaos of breaking up. You can feel the sadness of a breakup of the band. Shangri-las (an uncredited bonus track) serves as a final sendoff, sealing the bands fate- "I'll never return to shangri-las" accompanied by the fat lady singing (I'm not making that up- an alto opera singer is the last voice one hears).

What comes as filler is actually quite nice. What Happened starts the album and gets the listener into the right mindset- "What happened to the fambly cat?" over some wonderful piano. The Animal World, despite having very little lyrics, is another oddly strong track, as is Skateboarding Saves Me Twice (that is not only the title, but the extent of the lyrics). Campershell Dreams and Disconnecty both could fit easily into the other albums.

The only clunker of a track is 50% (unless you are that turned off by the meowing during Where I'm Anymore- not making that up, either). "50% less words in 2006" being shrieked by Lytle over 'daddy doing punk isn't all that palatable, even though part of the bitterness of the song for the listener is that by the time the track arrives, you know that he isn't joking.

This album is definitely not a bad album. There is a part of me that wonders if my disappointment with some of the album isn't actually set up by the fact that Sumday was such a traditional album. There were 12 tracks, all of normal length and song structure. Have I forgotten that Underneath The Western Highway and Sophtware Slump were, really, such NONtraditional albums, with smaller tracks interspersed with the proper songs? That Sumday had less filler and was more pop oriented than before, where the first two albums were more the alternative albums that Grandaddy really is and should be? And that this lack of traditionality is what drew me to them in the first place? Maybe I have forgotten this.

Or maybe I'm just bitter that this is really the last album. That there is no more after this. That he won't be going back to shangri-las and the fat lady IS really singing. That most of these songs will probably never be performed live, at least by Grandaddy themselves. That this could be the last we hear from the lumberjack-looking skateboarders from Modesto. Sure, Jimmy plays with Earlimart now, and the drummer, Aaron, does guest spots for a number of bands, but this is it, really. Sadly....

The liner notes end like this:

Handshakes, backpats, and big hugs to too many others missed, for there has been too many years, too many memories, and too much of everything, really, with plenty of nothing too.

So I guess that's it then,
And now I will say,
farewell......and may
fortune befriend you all.


You too, Jason. You too. Don't be a stranger.

a lush, inspiring album that takes you on wondrous trips of the mind. The harmonies and soothing grooves move the emotions in powerful ways. The songs are finely constructed gems that evolve the more you listen to them. This is a treasure for the ears and the soul.

This album is great, but so are all of their albums. 'The animal world' grabbed me right away, 'guide down down denied', and 'rear view mirror' are stellar tracks. The whole album is awesome, but it really was bittersweet to hear.
After reading Jason's interview in "Magnet", I guess financially it was a solid choice. This band has been the soundtrack to my life, good, and bad, for 7 years now.
I hate to see you go.....
All of their albums are worth your time, I recommend you buy them.

This album could get five stars for the production value alone. Even though he'd hate to be called it, Jason Lytle is a wizard in the studio. The sound and overall mood of the album is lush and beautiful in some parts, fragile and twisted elsewhere. As far as where it rates in relation to the rest of Grandaddy's fine catalogue... it stands on its own as a terrific bookend to their career. Best track for me is "Where I'm Anymore", for the sheer brilliance of the guitar solo the fact that the lyrics are written from the perspective of the fambly cat. Brilliant, just brilliant!

Grandaddy was also one of the finest live acts I've ever seen and you can bet that Jason has the rest of his band mates to thank for that. Aaron, Tim, Jimmy... carry on in whatever means suit you best. The fambly cat may have moved to Montana but there are plenty of other strays living in Modesto. I hope that sumday we'll see you all together again.