Sumday - Grandaddy
  • Band Name: Grandaddy
  • Record Label: V2
  • Release Date: Jun 10, 2003
Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. 100
    A warm and deeply engaging snapshot of fractured relationships and existential dread. [Aug 2003, p.116]
  2. The band reaffirms a gift for creating melancholic melodies that are surprisingly sturdy and self-assured. [13 Jun 2003, p.96]
  3. Grandaddy's third full-length is the band's Dark Side of the Moon, a musical snapshot of postmodern existence in which things are often not what they seem.
  4. Sumday is all glorious, throbbing heart.
  5. While they still sound pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record, the anxieties that '...Slump' articulated have been replaced by frontman Jason Lytle's desire to address more simple matters.
  6. 80
    As the concerns that drive Lytle's lyrics lift out, the well-known tremulous quiver and fragile vocals become increasingly irreplaceable, the perfect medium for songs about articulating the intangible. [Jun 2003, p.94]
  7. 80
    It's a compelling psychological study set to lovely tunes. [Jul 2003, p.114]
  8. 80
    Heartbreakingly beautiful. [#17, p.140]
  9. Sumday is yet another big step for Grandaddy, but like their previous effort, it's not quite perfect either.
  10. One of the major differences between this and other Grandaddy releases is that Lytle finally seems comfortable in his role as production auteur.
  11. 80
    Grandaddy's mellowest, most cohesive material to date.
  12. Musically there’s not enough variation to keep things interesting throughout.[Note: Score listed is an average of two separate reviews: a 61 and an 85]
  13. Sumday's only real flaw is the creeping sense of professionalism that is starting to emerge in the band's songwriting and playing.
  14. It's just not quite as great as some of us dared to hope.
  15. They're simply repainting comfortable territories with even subtler strokes than ever.
  16. While the melodies have grown catchier and the arrangements more focused, [Jason] Lytle has leapt into the lyrical big leagues with unassuming songs about entropy and epiphany.
  17. This is a surprisingly homogenous set of tunes, and on the whole, the album can make for a rather repetitive listen.
  18. This album's problem is a very, very shoddy sequence.
  19. Is so dominated by mid-tempo story-songs that it rarely breaks through into the rapturous highs that Grandaddy is capable of producing.
  20. Scattered with belated dispatches from the wreckage of the dot-bom, Sumday is knowingly archaic and all-consumingly derivative.
  21. For every robotic quip on Sumday, there's an exposed moment of sincerity that proves it's not all Penzoil oozing from the lilting Lytle.
  22. The album may not improve on 2001's Sophtware Slump, but its pleasures lie in accepting reasonable underachievement, and knowing that speed kills.
  23. Thought-provoking and a bit of a downer in ways Grandaddy probably didn't intend, Sumday isn't a totally empty experience, but its ambitions and results don't add up as well as might have been expected.
  24. Disappointingly straight-laced. [Jul 2003, p.104]
  25. Feels stuck in a holding pattern.... A misfire from a talented band.
  26. Adherence to stock chord progressions, interminably chugging guitars and a dearth of new ideas since 2000's The Sophtware Slump gives the impression that Sumday is Grandaddy-by-rote.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. RBrown
    10
    Three years later, the most frequently played album in the CD player. Patiently waiting for next full length release.
  2. benjaminbunny
    8
    No, it's not the mini-masterpiece that was '"The Sophtware Slump"--"Sumday" lacks the thematic cohesion and colorful analog palette that made that disc so memorable. However more homogenous the instrumentation is here, "Sumday" claims its beauty in simplicity and lyrical honesty. In songs like "I'm On Standby" and "The Final Push To The Sum," Jason Lytle's personal struggles are more straightforward or autobiographic than the more narrative-based tracks from "TSS." And frankly, despite some redundancy, "Sumday"'s warm melodies really are endlessly listenable, I've been playing this record for months now and have yet to get remotely tired of it. Recommended. Full Review »
  3. P.Jiguryo
    9
    By far, one of the best albums of 2003. It ranks up there with the rest of the all-time favorites of the indie and alt-rock segment. Thanks, Lytle and the gang. Full Review »