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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.
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Sumday is all glorious, throbbing heart.
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UncutIt's a compelling psychological study set to lovely tunes. [Jul 2003, p.114]
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Sumday is yet another big step for Grandaddy, but like their previous effort, it's not quite perfect either.
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MojoAs 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]
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Q MagazineDisappointingly straight-laced. [Jul 2003, p.104]
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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sound pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record, the anxieties that '...Slump' articulated have been replaced by frontman Jason Lytle's desire to address more simple matters.
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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.
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Is so dominated by mid-tempo story-songs that it rarely breaks through into the rapturous highs that Grandaddy is capable of producing.
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SpinA warm and deeply engaging snapshot of fractured relationships and existential dread. [Aug 2003, p.116]
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Entertainment WeeklyThe band reaffirms a gift for creating melancholic melodies that are surprisingly sturdy and self-assured. [13 Jun 2003, p.96]
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This album's problem is a very, very shoddy sequence.
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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.
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BlenderHeartbreakingly beautiful. [#17, p.140]
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This is a surprisingly homogenous set of tunes, and on the whole, the album can make for a rather repetitive listen.
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It's just not quite as great as some of us dared to hope.
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They're simply repainting comfortable territories with even subtler strokes than ever.
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One of the major differences between this and other Grandaddy releases is that Lytle finally seems comfortable in his role as production auteur.
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Scattered with belated dispatches from the wreckage of the dot-bom, Sumday is knowingly archaic and all-consumingly derivative.
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Feels stuck in a holding pattern.... A misfire from a talented band.
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Sumday's only real flaw is the creeping sense of professionalism that is starting to emerge in the band's songwriting and playing.
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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.
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The album may not improve on 2001's Sophtware Slump, but its pleasures lie in accepting reasonable underachievement, and knowing that speed kills.
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Grandaddy's mellowest, most cohesive material to date.
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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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 20 out of 22
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Mixed: 0 out of 22
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Negative: 2 out of 22
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RBrownMar 13, 2006Three years later, the most frequently played album in the CD player. Patiently waiting for next full length release.
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benjaminbunnyNov 4, 2003
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P.JiguryoJul 26, 2003