Sumday

Sumday
Studio album by Grandaddy
Released May 13, 2003
Genre Indie rock
Space rock
Length 52:27
Label V2
Producer Jason Lytle
Grandaddy chronology
Concrete Dunes
(2002)		 Sumday
(2003)		 Below the Radio
(2004)

Sumday is the third studio album by American indie rock band Grandaddy, released in May 2003 by V2 Records. An expanded version with a second disc of live tracks was released later that year. The album gave the band its highest chart placing in the UK, peaking at number 22.

According to Jason Lytle, the album "represents the closest I've been to singing in the first person, writing passionately".[1]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
Blender [3]
Entertainment Weekly (A)[3]
Mojo [3]
NME [4]
Pitchfork Media (8.1/10)[5]
Robert Christgau [6]
Rolling Stone [3]
Spin A[7]
Uncut [3]

Adrien Begrand, reviewing the album for PopMatters viewed it as one where Lytle had decided to "tone down on the experimentation, and concentrate on developing some terrific melodies", calling it "really the next logical step for the band".[8] He commented on similarities to the Alan Parsons Project ("Now It's On"), ELO ("The Go in the Go For It"), and John Lennon ("Lost on Yer Merry Way"), and noted an improvement in Lytle's songwriting.[8] The CMJ New Music Report made it their 'essential release' in May 2003, with Antonia Santangelo calling it a "genuinely wholehearted work",[9] and in their end of year review placed it at number seven in their top albums of the year.[10] Jim DeRogatis, in his book Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, viewed the melodies as "even more effervescent and more memorable" than on The Sophtware Slump.[11] Allmusic's Heather Phares called it "pleasant enough" but "bland and complacent".[2] Sophie Best of The Age called it "another sprawling sonic Grandaddy adventure, shimmering with wistful sincerity and rural-tinged psychedelia".[1] The NME's Alan Woodhouse gave it 8/10, saying the songs sound "pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record".[4]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Jason Lytle. 

No. Title Length
1. "Now It's On"   4:08
2. "I'm on Standby"   3:13
3. "The Go in the Go For It"   3:40
4. "The Group Who Couldn't Say"   4:08
5. "Lost on Yer Merry Way"   6:17
6. "El Caminos in the West"   3:22
7. "'Yeah' Is What We Had"   3:45
8. "Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World"   3:52
9. "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake"   3:43
10. "O.K. With My Decay"   6:11
11. "The Warming Sun"   5:44
12. "The Final Push to the Sum"   4:24

Limited edition

Released five months after Sumday was released, the limited edition version is a two-disc album. The first disc is the original Sumday album, while the second disc contains songs recorded live at the Glastonbury Festival 2003 (tracks 1-6) and 3 tracks taken from The Black Sessions in Paris (tracks 7-9).

Disc 2

No. Title Length
1. "The Crystal Lake" (Live)  
2. "For the Dishwasher" (Live)  
3. "Yeah Is What We Had" (Live)  
4. "AM 180" (Live)  
5. "Our Dying Brains" (Live)  
6. "Laughing Stock" (Live)  
7. "The Go in the Go for It" (Live)  
8. "Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World" (Live)  
9. "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" (Live)  

Sales and charts

By 2006, the album had sold 110,000 copies.[12] It reached number 22 in the UK Albums Chart.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Best, Sophie (2003) "Everyone's Grandaddy", The Age, July 4, 2003, retrieved 2011-08-07
  2. ^ a b Heather Phares. "Sumday - Grandaddy". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/sumday-r642173. 
  3. ^ a b c d e "Critic Reviews for Sumday at Metacritic". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/sumday/critic-reviews. 
  4. ^ a b Alan Woodhouse (13 June 2003). "NME Album Reviews - Grandaddy : Sumday". NME. http://www.nme.com/reviews/artistKeyname/7106. 
  5. ^ Amanda Petrusich (8 June 2003). "Album Reviews: Grandaddy: Sumday". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3544-sumday/. 
  6. ^ Robert Christgau. "Grandaddy". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Grandaddy. 
  7. ^ Raihala, Ross (2003) "Grandaddy Sumday", SPIN, August 2003, p. 116, retrieved 2011-08-06
  8. ^ a b Begrand, Adrien (2003) "Grandaddy: Sumday", PopMatters, June 27, 2003, retrieved 2011-08-07
  9. ^ Santangelo, Antonia (2003) "Grandaddy Sumday", CMJ New Music Report, May 26, 2003, p. 6, retrieved 2011-08-07
  10. ^ Borolla, Caroline (2003) "CMJ Top 10 of 2003: No. 7 - Grandaddy Sumday", CMJ New Music Report, December 29, 2003, p. 7, retrieved 2011-08-07
  11. ^ DeRogatis, Jim (2008) Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, Hal Leonard, ISBN 978-0634055485, p. 557
  12. ^ Bronson, Kevin (2006) "Grandaddy leader finally changes his tune on band", Milwaukee Sentinel, June 5, 2006, p. 5E, retrieved 2011-08-07
  13. ^ "Grandaddy", Chart Stats, retrieved 2011-08-07
Grandaddy
Aaron Burtch · Tim Dryden · Jim Fairchild · Kevin Garcia · Jason Lytle
Studio albums
Under the Western Freeway (1997) · The Sophtware Slump (2000) · Sumday (2003) · Just Like the Fambly Cat (2006)
Self-released albums
Prepare to Bawl (1992) · Recorded Live Amongst Friends and Fidget (1994) · Complex Party Come Along Theories (1994) · Happy Happy X-Mas from Jason (1996)  · Live at the Art Factory (1997) · The Windfall Varietal (2000)
Unreleased albums
Don't Sock the Tryer (1996)
Compilations
EPs
Singles
"Could This Be Love" · "Taster"/"Nebraska" · "Everything Beautiful Is Far Away" · "Laughing Stock" · "Summer Here Kids" · "A.M. 180" · "The Crystal Lake" · "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot." · "Hewlett's Daughter" · "El Caminos in the West" · "I'm on Standby"/"Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake" · "Now It's On" · "Nature Anthem" · "Elevate Myself"
Promotional singles
Related articles