Customer Reviews

Sad Sappy Sucker

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

One word I would NOT use to describe this release is "brilliant." It's scattered, underdeveloped, and sometimes grating. Having said that, if you are a big fan of Modest Mouse, this is an absolute must-have (unless, of course, you are a REALLY big fan, and you already have all these songs on all the damn 7-inches). Sad Sappy Sucker shows a side of Modest Mouse that they haven't shown fans on any of their other releases. I'd always heard comparisons to Pavement and Built to Spill, and here and there I could pick something out in their music that resembled these bands, but this release shows exactly how much Modest Mouse developed into their own sound from a very derivative beginning. First of all, Sad Sappy Sucker contains only two songs over 3 minutes long, and none that hit the 3:10 mark; hearing such short songs coming from MM is extremely odd, and probably one of the reasons this release is so interesting for me. The songs were recorded in 1994-95, and sound heavily influenced by Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and Built to Spill's There's Nothing Wrong with Love. They have all the raw charm, energy, and weirdness of songs on those albums, stamped with just enough of Isaac Brock's own flavor (and he had plenty of it, even at this young age) to make them new. Unfortunately, the majority of the songs don't have the yearning and desperation of Pavement or the beauty and fragility of Built to Spill to make Sad Sappy Sucker a true classic; so only four stars. I will reiterate that this album is one that will probably only appeal to big fans, and is definitely NOT a starting-out point.

Read the 11 reviews before mine and you see people have mixed feelings about Sad Sappy Sucker by Modest Mouse. There are a few good songs on this release, but all in all, the songs are short, undeveloped blasts of randomness. I'm not saying you shouldn't add Sad Sappy Sucker to your collection, but new Modest Mouse listeners beware...you'd be better off going with This Is A Long Drive or any of the others. Long time fans should be happy to have the additional songs, although most have been available on 7"s and on the web for a while.

Screaming for the hell of it, the offbeat crashing cymbals, and rusty sounding guitars. Hmmm... It sounds like some amateur indie rock band. Modest Mouse are certainly not some amateur indie rock band, but they sure as hell were back in 1994. Sad Sappy sucker is an album by a bunch of kids with ADD playing in some shack and wailing away on their instruments. Playing 30 second blurbs and saying "Wow, that was kind of neat, Let's put that on the album". This was an album that modest mouse did not want to release until now. Why did they decide to release it now instead of back in 94? I think they just wanted to put it out and see what happens to it. If a hundred people out of 40,000 like it, that means a hundred people like the album. Sad Sappy Sucker is by no means the band's best effort, but it is a fun collection of songs by a young band with a temendous amount of promise.

i can say nothing but good things about the Washington band modest mouse. this album is hard to get into, as are almost all of modest mouse's albums, but with patience, you won't regret buying it. it has a special feeling when you hear it, a humble silliness and an altogether bright outlook. as confusing and distorted as it may be, i always love to introduce people to the early days of modest mouse because it's so original. i reccommend lonesome crowded west or the moon and antartica as first buys. . .

This is definitely not going to hook your ear like the new major label records will. But most of us didn't start listening to Modest Mouse because they hooked our ears.

This album reminds me of Nirvana's "Outcesticide" records that were released to the gray market. It is a lo-fi collection of tunes that paints a portrait of the band's beginnings. It has a handful of gems that are unforgettable but wouldn't have fit on any of the other records. I would be very sad if I didn't have "Dukes Up", "Birds vs. Worms", or "It Always Rains On A Picnic".

I think that this album shows that Modest Mouse is willing to make its purist indie roots available to their fans even as they grow into their current semi-famous pop-idol status.

So, yes. You should buy this record. But only buy it for the right reasons.

No Music has perfection... and overproduced records are polished surfaces....This shows the early essence of Modest Mouse at its prime...and it shows the energy of that indie guitar sound of minor melodies and chaos through the early years....
When I saw the abstract cover in a independent record store...I was curious of what it would be like....As noisy and garage it may sound, the guitar clashing of complex melodious chords, and Issac Brock's vocals sound expressive like beat poetry, words that come straight out of nowhere, then put into lyrics. This album sounds so pure and to me remains a classic indie record...It sounds like fragments
of an analog tape collage of sound to form into that work of art.....that came from musicians that wanted to make music out of the equipment that they had....
It's a perfect example...it shows that whatever you record; even if it is lo-fi equipment: you could do amazing things with it if you have any crazy creative, imaginative ideas formed into sound....

"Sad Sappy Sucker" is not Modest Mouse's best work ("Lonesome Crowded West" is), but neither is it trash. In fact, it serves as a fantastic left book-end to the group's career thus far. Granted, the production even on the best tunes is awful, the answering-machine ditties are largely annoying, but still, this record gives the listener a chance to hear one of rock's greatest bands in its infancy, and the experience is a most rewarding one. Themes both musical and lyrical that Modest Mouse will later give definitive treatment to are first explored on "Sad Sappy Sucker", and this is reason enough to buy and enjoy it.

Not only is this album not made for radio, it's not made for MTV or VH1 or anything on those lines. If you want to hear some original music that hasn't been premanufactured for America's college kids, buy this. In fact, buy any modest mouse album. If you don't like it right away, give it a few days of listening and I know you'll appreciate it for it's originality, diversity and addictive sound.

Much is said already but here's my 2 cents; in general I like debut-albums very much, you'll find many musical ideas and much energy bundled in just one record. Very exciting! OK, those records are mostly not consumer friendly, but MM is not such a band in the first place, imo. -This album is filled with enchanting, spontaneous musical exploration, crazy and wonderful magical sounds. -Very direct emotion, & listening to it you hear why they are such a special group today. To my Dutch ears, it's not an incoherent album at all, just go by your intuition & must say, it's quite a genius record. I have all their albums, this one explains it all.

Sad Sappy Sucker is a so so Modest Mouse Album. The album is on and off providing examples of both spectacular songs and not-so-spectacular songs. The clear cut best track would be Worms Vs. Birds with other highlights comming from Path of Least Resistance, From Point a to Point B, Dukes Up, Race Car Grin You Ain't No Landmark, and Secret Angent X-9. If you already like Modest Mouse and enjoy some of their older stuff like 'Lonesome Crowded West' or 'This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About' Then I'd recomend exploring this abum. If your a fan of 'Good News for People Who Love Bad News' and you're looking to explore or if this is your first Modest Mouse album, then the best choice would be Lonesome Crowded West.