1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome b-sides!, May 24, 2003
This is Everclear's best CD single in a long time! The title song "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" is ok. I'm sure you've heard it. It's a pop-punk song with humorous lyrics and an extremely catchy melody. Although it's a decent song, the rest of the Slow Motion Daydream album is a much better.
"Your New Disease" is better than half the tracks on the Slow Motion Daydream album. This song is good enough to be a huge hit single. It recalls the sound of 1995's "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore" from Sparkle and Fade. The production is simple and clean. It's not to messy like Afterglow or Learning How to Smile. It's a song about an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend and the frustration, but also acceptance that goes along with it all. Great rock song! This song beats pretty much anything from the Vol. 2 Good Time for a Bad Attitude CD. That's either how bad Vol. 2 is or how good this B-side is. I guess it's both...
"Happy" sounds like something left over from the Learning How to Smile era. That's not to say it's a pop song - it's not, it's a rock song. But the sound is muddy due to too many sounds. The drums sound tame, like they did in some of the Afterglow songs and LHTS songs. But the song itself is great. It features a guitar lick that brings back memories of "Local God" or "Electra Made Me Blind." The song is about people who are told and feel that nothing is ever good enough. The narrator then advises that nothing is actually good enough. Clever.
So 1 decent LP track and 2 great b-sides make up a great single. 5 stars because the b-sides are solid enough songs to make the album. The only reason they were left out is because they didn't fit the album's mood and themes. That was the band's decision and it's a good one. Everclear is a band that makes a good album, not just a collection of songs. If you're a fan with all of the Everclear albums only, these songs are good enough and deserve to be in your collection. If you're a fan with all of the albums and a few imports, this is one you should definitely buy.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Volvo Driving Soccer Mom, March 1, 2003
Riding a similar musical and lyrical vein as Rock Star, it attacks right-wing middle America with more wit, sarcasm and general lyrical balls than almost any other band in the known universe. Heartbreakingly, its musically mediocre, landing somewhere between the classic pop melodies of their best-seller Learning How To Smile and the all-out grunge of last album Good Time For A Bad Attitude (both fantastic) and ending up in boring pop-punk territory. As they're one of my favourite bands, its bitterly disappointing, but if it's what it takes to get lines like "now I know my right wing from my wrong" and "now we've got blonde, bland middle-class Republican lives!" endless plays on US radio, I'll just about forgive 'em. Knowing them, the album will be better musically.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great song, July 31, 2003
When a friend of mine MADE me listen to Volvo Driving Soccer Mom, I was blown away. I ran out and bought the CD emidiatly. This is just an awesome with somewhat questionable lyrical content. It's awesome. Listen to it!
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