Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre

http://www.sayanythingmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sayanything

I first got turned onto this band with the rerelease of ...Is a Real Boy and really dug that record. Because of that, this new double album is one of my most anticipated 2007 releases. I ordered it from Amazon yesterday, but coupled it with the new Onion book that won't be released until next week, so the CD probably won't arrive for a while. In the meantime, I downloaded a leaked copy, but haven't listened to it and will probably just delete the thing. I want to have some element of surprise when the CD arrives.

So, it was released today. Anybody hear it? Thoughts?

Just got it today, but I'd listened online a couple of times already. IMO, it's a mixed bag that's a bit too long-winded for its own good. About half of the songs could have been chopped to make this a much tighter single-disc effort.

Also, I haven't dug very deep into the lyrics, but the bits and pieces I've picked up are nowhere near as witty as Is A Real Boy. Max's bipolar disorder is mentioned a few too many times to be powerful, and a few of the lyrics are beyond vulgar.

To top it off, the numerous guest appearances tend to get in the way of Max's vocals, which are nowhere near as strong as they were on the last album.

As it stands, I'd rank this album among the more disappointing releases of the year. There's a few songs that I really like, so maybe the rest of it will grow on me (the last album certainly did). But even among the songs I like, there's nothing that comes close to the stronger songs on Is A Real Boy.

I gave it a brief listen last night, but it always takes me longer to fully digest double albums because there's just so damn much to listen to.

here is a link to a review if you want to read positive things...

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=273927

I've listened to it once all the way through. I definitely like disc 1 more than disc 2. I agree it would probably be better consolidated into 1 disc. Hopefully I'll get into it more after a few more listens.

There's a handful of bands I don't trust AP.net to write about objectively, and Say Anything's one of them.

My copy finally arrived from Amazon yesterday and I'll give it an initial listen this afternoon. Hopefully I won't find it to be such a letdown as everyone says.