Sumday [Enhanced]

Grandaddy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B00009EIQB
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,861 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Now It's On

2. I'm On Standby

3. The Go In The Go-For-It

4. The Group Who Couldn't Say

5. Lost On Yer Merry Way

6. El Caminos In The West

7. "Yeah" Is What We Had

8. Saddest Vacant Lot In All The World

9. Stray Dog And The Chocolate Shake

10. The Warming Sun

11. O.K. With My Decay

12. The Final Push To The Sum

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sumday doesn't so much represent a stylistic change for Grandaddy as it does a change in attitude. The Sophtware Slump, its predecessor, superbly combined low-budget experimentalism and country-tinged American pop to evoke everyone from the Flaming Lips to Neil Young to ELO. Sumday finds the California band conducting business as usual, though exhibiting a noticeably brighter mood. "I got not reason to be weathered and withery / Like in the season of the old me," Jason Lytle sings on opener, "Now It's On," demonstrating a newfound optimism that rears its sunny head throughout the album. "The Group Who Couldn't Say" could have been a bitter tirade against the music industry, but it's not, saved by Lytle's fragile voice, which is sweet without being naïve. "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake," meanwhile, is carried along by a bouncy keyboard riff that's reminiscent of Under the Western Freeway's "A.M. 180," but with more playful lyrics. Even slower, more melancholy songs such as "Yeah Is What We Had," "The Warming Sun," and "Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World" retain the quality that Grandaddy's trademark sound: simple music played on a grand scale. --Robert Burrow

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Again, people hate change, October 22, 2004

By 

Joseph Bergevin (Tallahassee, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sumday (Audio CD)

I can't count how many reviews I've read in various media of this album that lament its lack of "experimentalism" compared to Sophtware Slump. Sopthware is certainly a masterful disc, but is that all people want from thier bands: more of the same? What if the Beatles had made Sgt Pepper's four times over? It gets old. I also sense unease with the prospect of Jason Lytle writing "happy" songs. Is he not allowed to be happy? Just because it's not dark doesn't mean it's instantly blaze and mainstream. Your disconnect more likely means that you're depressed. I for one applaud this new effort from one of our best bands going. The songwriting is solid, and I would argue that the last two songs are the most grand and touching that they've ever made, and my favorites from their entire catalog.
For those who've never spun a Grandaddy CD, this is as good a disc as any to start with. I'd say you could best describe them as a rock band with a dash of country, low-fi synth, and one of the more unique, memorable vocalists nowadays. They remind me most of The Flaming Lips, and Pet Sounds-eque Brian Wilson. They're an indie rock band without the anger or self-importance. Find another band like that.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yeah is what we have, March 25, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sumday (Audio CD)

Spacey folk-rockers Grandaddy have returned with a melodic quilt of pop harmony and sci-fi lyrics. Okay, at times it sounds a bit like "The Sophtware Slump Chapter II." But "Sumday" has a certain personality of its own, more upbeat and less distant.

After a bit of vocal clicking (meaning somebody saying "click... on... click... on...") Grandaddy kicks off into the catchy "Now It's On." Pensive robot-rock takes its place in this album ("I'm On Standby," the quirky "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake") along with music-biz criticism ("The Group Who Couldn't Say"). Finally it winds through wistful psychedelic pop ("Yeah is What We Had," "OK With My Decay") and piano ballads ("Saddest Vacant Lot In All The World") before finally asking, over and over, "What have I become?"

"Sumday" seems to introduce a more upbeat side to Grandaddy. "I wouldn't trade my place/I got no reason to be/weathered and withering/like in a season of the old me," Lyte informs us. Not that the music is all butterflies and light. It mood-swings between depression-laden songs and quirky little collages, before ending on a note of confusion.

The cool, shimmery music is grounded by Jason Lytle's distant voice and some okay percussion and some guitars, both fuzzy and regular. At one point in "Yeah Is What We Had," it even sounds like there are tambourines. The lyrics are solidly evocative, with the robots working late shifts in the dark, walking in a storm, and sweeping eerie landscapes.

"Sumday" is a lush indie-rock-pop collection with plenty of electronic flourishes. Another aural treat from Grandaddy, experimental and peculiar and sweet.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bearded Meshies Do It Again, August 29, 2003

By 

Cappy Titstein (Dead Horse, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sumday (Audio CD)

Grandaddy's latest effort "Sumday" is another keeper. It's not as quirky and oddly cool as their last album "The Sophtware Slump" (no "crash-landed crows") but it does offer a line-up of very original and catchy songs.

After hearing "The Crystal Lake" and "Miner at the Dial-a-View" on Internet radio in the summer of 2002, I raced out to buy "TSS". The rest of the songs on the album took a little longer to digest but settled into my brain after about half a dozen spins. As I compulsively do with all great albums, I anticipated the follow-up album to "TSS" like a little kid. Though burned many times over the years by bands like New Order and The Foo Fighters, I'm very satisfied with "Sumday".

"Sumday"'s opening track, the highly endearing "Now It's On" (why aren't alternative stations playing this?) is a great lead-off. As the songs domino along, overload sets in and it becomes apparent that Grandaddy has given us way too much to make sense of in the first sitting. As a testament to the sophistication of GD's music, "Sumday", like "TSS", takes several plays to understand and appreciate. Once that happens, listeners should find every song quite pleasant. This album certainly won't fire up a frat party but it's unbeatable as background music while working on the computer or to keep spirits up on a long road trip.

Grandaddy has the perfect combination of musical integrity, talent and obscurity (for now) to make them my favorite band. I'm looking forward to seeing them in concert in September and I share the band's sentiment in hoping that they "won't get too fed up with the music business" as I'm already looking forward to their next album.