The Sophtware Slump
by Grandaddy
  • Record Label: V2
  • Release Date: Nov 7, 2000
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 47
  3. Negative: 5 out of 47

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  1. MOSHEK
    May 1, 2005
    10
    masterpiece!
  2. RobinH.
    Jan 30, 2002
    10
    Absolutely beautiful soundscape. A modern masterpiece that is definately one of the greatest albums of all time.
  3. JessicaB
    Sep 16, 2003
    10
    dudes, this cd rocks! i skateboard to school, and i crank The Sophtware Slump up and up and it never gets old. All the special effects are what i love about it. This cd is so awesome...im going to buy the other two. Plus, the drumming makes you want to walk to the same beat...or skate.
  4. MOSHEK
    May 26, 2006
    10
    masterpiece!
  5. MOSHEK
    Jul 28, 2006
    10
    masterpiece!
  6. RSkells
    Sep 6, 2006
    9
    This album is beautiful. The songs are original, both in the prodiction and in the subject matter. it is a wonderfully accessible way to introduce yourself to one of America's finest indie bands.
  7. BeagenD
    Dec 30, 2004
    10
    Original song ideas, cool noises and rocking in the right places. From the spacy epic opener to the rock of Broken Household Appliance National Forest, a keeper. Their follow-up Sumday is worthwhile also.
  8. stevenc
    Mar 9, 2004
    10
    ween+pink floyd=grandaddy.....incredible!
  9. ShawnA.
    Apr 2, 2004
    10
    Wonderful, that's all i have to say.
  10. JosephL
    Oct 28, 2005
    8
    This is a weaker ok computer. But not really that much weaker, just lacking the crushing swells until late in the album. The vocals completely clone wayne coyne, but that's fine with me. Listen to it on a real stereo though, otherwise the first half of the album sounds flat. Jed's Other Poem and particularly So You'll Aim Toward the Sky are incredible.
  11. RayW.
    May 27, 2007
    9
    wondrous stuff, warm, fuzzy pop masterpiece, it has dated much better than the radiohead or flaming lips albums it's often compared to.
  12. LizS.
    Oct 16, 2001
    10
    I'm a huge Grandaddy fan and this album is totally awesome! Everyone should get it!
  13. AndrewT.
    Dec 21, 2001
    7
    only a seven because i enjoy under the western freeway more. sophtware slump has crystal lake and hewletts daughter, granted, but the other songs are a little melancholy. i love the cd, but only when im in the mood or hung over. keep producing, i love you guys.
  14. FrankieT
    Nov 24, 2003
    10
    Great Album, im from Turlock right next door to Modesto and Im happy to see someone around here is doing something. Spark one up and listen to this CD it will change you.
  15. JessicaK
    Aug 26, 2005
    9
    I can't listen to the album without feeling the piano in my very soul. It is breath-taking
  16. HungerfordS.
    Mar 18, 2008
    10
    Masterpiece.. This is the kind of album that is best listened to all the way through. It is greater than the sum of it's parts. Truly unbelievable. Thanks Grandaddy.
  17. handsomeslug
    Feb 25, 2011
    9
    It's Ok Computer's pop loving, dope smoking brother, and an album full of happy/sad surprises. It quietly announced the arrival of the noughties and became one of the best albums of the decade, without a doubt.
    Tremendous.
  18. Tel-X
    Jul 14, 2021
    10
    The soundtrack to accompany the end of Humanity...

    I admit, I fell in love with this masterpiece the moment I heard it - nailing the technological fears of the new millennium - but twenty-one years on from its initial release, accompanying these wretched two decades of war, mendacity, greed, violence and hate, its relevance seems to be gathering momentum as we hurtle toward Kurzweil's    The soundtrack to accompany the end of Humanity...

    I admit, I fell in love with this masterpiece the moment I heard it - nailing the technological fears of the new millennium - but twenty-one years on from its initial release, accompanying these wretched two decades of war, mendacity, greed, violence and hate, its relevance seems to be gathering momentum as we hurtle toward Kurzweil's 'singularity'. Maybe machines will tell their offspring one day of how the now-defeated humans used to just 'throw us away'?

    Sonically, it's a match for any of its contemporaries, be it OK Computer or The Soft Bulletin, and for those who love a dose of melancholy, it drips with it throughout. It could be argued that Grandaddy made better tracks on future releases, but none had the overall focus of 'The Sophtware Slump'.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Best Album of 2000
30
#30 Most Discussed Album of 2000
40
#40 Most Shared Album of 2000

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Sonicnet
    60
    It opens with a nine-minute song. It's a concept album. Worse still, it's a science fiction concept album. With songs about robots. But here's the thing: Every time I listen to it, I don't hate it.... The combination of prog-rock ambition, scrappy sounds and the odd hip reference almost make it feel like Pink Floyd growing up and making a disc in the post-Beck era.
    Read full review
  2. AllMusic
    90
    An album that shares a spacy sadness with Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider and Radiohead's OK Computer. Though it's a little more self-conscious and not quite as accomplished as either of those albums, it is Grandaddy's most impressive work yet and one of 2000's first worthwhile releases.
    Read full review
  3. Rolling Stone
    70
    Lytle's rigorous, knotty songwriting skills check his band's yen for indie-rock messiness. And when everything coheres at the end, with the outstanding soul and reverie of "Miner at the Dial-a-View" and "So You'll Aim Toward the Sky," Grandaddy can be exhilarating.
    Read full review
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