Artist: Say Anything
Title: Say Anything
Label: RCA
Genre: Rock
Bitrate: 190kbit av.
Time: 01:15:00
Size: 107.49 mb
Rip Date: 2009-11-05
Str Date: 2009-11-03
DISC 1:
01. Fed To Death 1:36
02. Hate Everyone 3:13
03. Do Better 3:51
04. Less Cute 3:05
05. Eloise 3:48
06. Mara And Me 3:52
07. Crush'd 4:25
08. She Won't Follow You 2:43
09. Cemetery 3:56
10. Property 4:11
11. Death For My Birthday 4:10
12. Young Dumb And Stung 3:25
13. Ahhh...Men 4:05
DISC 2:
01. Fed To Death 1:39
02. Hate Everyone 3:14
03. Eloise 3:33
04. She Won't Follow You 2:23
05. Cemetery 3:49
06. Property 3:37
07. Death For My Brithday 4:10
08. Young Dumb And Stung 2:53
09. Ahhh... Men 3:22
Release Notes:
Max Bemis isn't pissed anymore. Well, he's still got a bit of a chip on
his shoulder about a few things, but when you just got hitched to a
beautiful singer, wife Sherri Dupree of Eisley, why would you continue
to be a shell of a man, one that seems bitter at the world they're
playing their heart out in? Bemis is no longer the little kid scared of
the world, maturing from a real boy to a kid set to save it. The band's
self-titled isn't the double disc venture of last time, but a compact
one still attempting different elements of pop: some great, some
confusing, all Say Anything.
From the start of the disc, the band's attempts of "pop," or something
like it, are well received through the guitar work of the opening "Fed
to Death." For a second, the opener shines over the city, and possibly
sounds as uplifting as anything from Andrew McMahon vocally, but
lyrically, a religious open forum, two stories, the later obviously
about Jesus Christ.
Piano leads into the album's first single, a bitter seeded (or
hyperbolic tongue in cheek) Disney sing-a-long that has Bemis, well,
hating everyone and everything on "Hate Everyone." Bemis, through
happier instruments, still wears a bit of animosity on his sleeve
("Rich hippie girl with a gas guzzler/forced myself to fall in love
with her/she was so strung out she'd swear it never occurred/the honkey
king went back on his word/the next one did the same/the blind leading
the lame"). This may be what throws older listeners off. The bitten
tongue of Bemis and the expected bite of his band has been replaced by
the unexpected upbeat backing of strings and hand-claps ("Do Better"),
piano drives ("Eloise") and clean guitar strums ("Cemetery").
Say Anything isn't without its heavy side. The guitar solo feels right
on the quick paced middle and end of "Mara and Me," and the fuzz and
drive of "She Won't Follow You" will surely make one remember their
days of quick riffs and Drive-Thru. Bemis still has his writing prowess
with lines like, "They say rebellion exists in despair and their ironic
facial hair/the devil may, or may not care."
Sure, ballads like "Cemetery," and the synthesize backdrop of the
"Really Max? You wrote a song like 'Admit It!' I can't believe you
wrote a cheese chorus like this" mid-album "Crush'd" won't set well
with older fans, but after the bright angst of "Young, Dumb and Stung,"
the album closes with what could be one of the best songs of the band's
career, "Ahhh...Men." Bemis and distant guitar begin the closer,
leading into the track's choral line to back Bemis' crescendo'd rant,
"There's a crack in the edge at the end of the world/where i will sit
with my love in its fluorescent swirl/eat us up, break it down in the
tiniest cell/in our room with a view and a window to hell-/with those
who bury bodies and the barrels of fun/who will march through museums
that display what they've done/they'll be shot up through the sky by a
cannon of sin/who will reluctantly let them in."
The album's closer and mood seem to sum up Say Anything's, and
especially Bemis', feelings on how this record will be perceived. Say
Anything have put together an album of songs that seems fit to have a
self-titled behind it, because this album isn't as unexpected as many
listeners are finding it. Hell, Bemis says it himself: "Wait a second-
I can't write the same damn song over and over again." No good band
should, instead, constantly growing and trying new things, even if
sometimes they are the only ones that get it.
Deluxe edition including a bonus cd "Say Anything's Secret Origin",
containing 9 brilliant acoustic versions of album tracks.
sire@hush.ai