Say Anything Band • Page 27

I like it, but it's kind of jarring after "Goodbye Young Tutor"

 

The thing I learned from doing this is that the album is rock solid for 8 tracks

 

I've always liked it for that reason, it used to make me jump when I wasn't anticipating it. Kinda like the intro to Vices or the "Luca bomb."

 

I had my perfect list somewhere on AP, but it's gone now. I'll re-visit at some point

 

1. Skinny Mean Man
2. The Truth Is, You Should Lie With Me
3. Shiksa (Girlfriend)
4. Baby Girl, I'm A Blur
5. Surgically Removing The Tracking Device
6. This Is Fucking Ecstasy
7. Spay Me
8. People Like You Are Why People Like Me Exist
9. About Falling
10. The Word You Wield
11. We Killed It
12. Goodbye Young Tutor, You've Now Outgrown Me

I messed with the sequencing a little. Maybe that's wrong. IDK

 

You cut Plea and The Church Channel, that's wrong.

 

Top 5 IDOTG

1) That Is Why
2) About Falling
3) Plea
4) Skinny Mean Man
5) This is Fucking Ecstasy

 

Haha. They both fall flat for me.

 

1. Baby Girl, I'm a Blur
2. The Church Channel
3. Plea
4. Shiksa (Girlfriend)
5. Spores

Would be my top 5.

 

jakob i had no idea you liked Baby Girl that much @SpyKi

my top 5 would be

In Defense Of The Genre
The Church Channel
That Is Why
Plea
Skinny, Mean Man

 

It's my dancing song. I lose my shit at the end every time, haha.

 

It's real close between that and Church Channel though.

 

THEY LET US PLAY WITH MARKERS BUT I KEEP TRYING TO DRAW INFINITY

 

the version of "Spay Me" on Spotify is censored lmao

 

If you are looking at the album and you go to the bottom, it will say "1 additional release" or something like that, and if you click that it takes you to the uncensored haha

 

thank you lol

 

Still formulating some thoughts on Self-Titled/Anarchy, but in the meantime, whoever said "Judas Decapitation" was the real "Admit It Again" on AP was right. This part still gets me:

"I hate that dude now that he's married/He's got a baby on the way, poor Sherri/That's not apropos, he's not the wretch we know/Chop his family up so we can feed them to the front row/Spike his fifteenth espresso with drugs/So he's convinced it's a manic delusion to know true love/Be 19 with a joint in hand/Never change the band/Never ever be a 'dot dot dot real man"

I think part of the reason I still get defensive about Anarchy, My Dear, which even Max says is confusing in its (admittedly poor) execution, is because that's when I REALLY started to see people on AP blame the quality of his output on Sherri/his happiness, which is still totally fucked up. I'd rather take a happy/healthy Max putting out interesting music that isn't for me over a fucked-up Max making ...Is a Real Boy again any day.

 

This!! I feel the exact same way.

 

Self-Titled and Anarchy, My Dear are strange records. I like them both a decent amount but would cut a few tracks from each of them ("Less Cute" and "Young Dumb and Stung" from the former, "Admit It Again" and "Sheep" from the latter). Throw "No Games" on SA and and "Narcissus" on AMD and I think's you've got a couple of pretty solid albums (but I'm really into alternate albums/sequencing, so don't let that bug you).

Bottom line, I don't love the production on either, and something happened to Max's vocal cadence between the two that leaves something to be desired on his newer releases, but outside of that, I guess I still root for AMD because I feel like it's best tracks ("Night's Song," "Overbiter," "The Stephen Hawking" rival SA's best and even though results are mixed, I just like what AMD tried to do (exploring anarchy and social politics through romance) more than what SA actually succeeded at doing (being a big, poppy, major-label rock record). That's just me though and I know a lot of people feel differently.

 

...which leads me to Hebrews. (Sorry, I'm almost done going album by album and spamming this thread.) Hebrews has to be a top three SA album, right? I mean, the production is markedly better, it calls back to IDOTG with some great guest spots in half the time, it's easily his most creative AND personal release since IDOTG (and in a lot of ways, it actually is the closest thing to ...IARB).

Like, I can't imagine being a fan of this band and not admiring (if not loving) this album. It's a blast.

I'm really glad I'm taking this public journey back through my old favorite band's discography and I'm sorry if it's annoying any of you but I'm going to give a really close and thoughtful listen to I Don't Think It Is tonight and come back with some final thoughts.

 

One more time for the folks in the back.

 

the musical breakdown in the second half of The Writing South is such a highlight of the album/their career, always gets me amped

 

I called her on the phone and she touched herself

 

It's hard to put into words, but the musical achievements in IARB is something that never really has been matched since then. Each and every song evolves as it progresses, there are so many little nuances and memorable parts. And the way the music syncs up with Max's vocals is flawless. I hate using the word "simple" but albums after IARB really seemed to kinda... pull back on the musical journeys that each song would take. There's definitely exceptions, but many of the mid-career Say Anything tracks stay along the same musical path the whole time

 

YO. Who has questions for Max? I just got back in touch with him about an interview series I wanted to start discussing critical reception, fan perception and if/how that kind of things affects an artist's writing and he just got back to me and confirmed he's down for it! What a time to be alive.

So if you have any pressing questions for Max, the good the bad, the ugly, please post and I'll see what I can squeeze.