Re: [sdre-l]: Fools in the SDRE Mailing List
I never talk about this stuff anymore, but I have been moved for some reason today. My opinion is that SDRE needs to be minimally produced. Their best sounding work is, certainly (in this opinion), songs produced by Brad Wood on LP2. Songs such as "Friday" and the re-recorded "8" are not layered with millions of guitars, etc. What happens in those songs is that the great songwriting comes forth. TRT, while wonderfully thick and warm, suffers from a general lack of spunk. Having seen them twice on the TRT tour, I noticed that songs such as "Killed by an Angel" and "Disappear" totally f#*%ing rock. It amazed me so profoundly at their live performances for the TRT tour because it was so RAW. SDRE needs to be raw, not overraught. Unfortunately, HIFTBSO is produced so POORLY (with certain exceptions: "Days Were Golden", "Guitars and Video Games") that the minimalist production deters from the musicality. For my money, the best thing the band has ever done is Jeremy's solo CD. And I cannot for the life of me understand how Greg Williamson would so perfectly capture that sparse, oblique tone so well on that album, and so poorly fail at it with HIFTBSO. Frog Queen gets better every year. Best, Phil
[sdre-l]: Another problem
I really like the conversations that are going on in this list. There has been some talk of people complaining about people being elitist and indie, well, I have to say something about it. From my posts I may come off as an indie elitist bastard, but I like to think Im different. Im different in this sense, when Sunny Day was without a label, and were looking for one, I was really hoping they would sign to Capitol or DGC or Epic and be huge, on the radio, doing the music they were making. But they really, really, really changed their sound. But I dont think they changed their sound to please anyone, to be more accesable to anyone, cause they still arent a big band. One of my biggest problems with it is this, they could probably have signed with a major label, but didn't, so they are doing this huge arena rock music without the thought of "getting big" in mind. It would at least be somewhat understandable if they were doing it for the money, there would at least be a reason behind them sounding like they do. Selling out requires one to make money, and I bet Diary still has outsold TRT. No, what is most troubling about their sound now is that I think this is honestly what they always wanted to sound like. It just makes you wonder what would be in their private CD collections if you took a peek. That's all from me for now. Matt np- Wilco - "Summerteeth"
Re: [sdre-l]: Fools in the SDRE Mailing List
I don't know why, but i'm gonna apologize in advance (probably because i'm planning on using foul language.) I've been on this list a long time (a LONG time). Don't take that as me saying i'm better or more intelligent or anything, i'm just saying that i've been around the block here a few times. (If i thought i was better than you, i'd tell you straight up :-) ). I've heard complaints about TRT come and go. I heard complaints about HIFTBSO. And through it all i've just kind of chuckled on the inside. how many of you have seen them live? those of you who have are quite lucky. I myself have been the lucky member of about 8 shows. Every single show was awesome. every fucking song that they played was off the hook amazing. I don't care how it sounded on the record, live, those songs held up and they fucking rocked the house. now... how many of you were around when there was no SDRE? either before or after the break up, doesn't matter. Remember how much it sucked to love the band so much, but it really didn't matter because they weren't there? Remember how fucking great it felt when we heard that they were back in the studio? remember that show at the moore theater where there wasn't a dry eye in the house? through all your complaints of TRT (and even HIFTBSO), would you rather go back to the days where there WAS NO sdre? would you rather be robbed of those live shows? miss out on those moments of pure elation and sorrow at the same time? remember that this means that you will never have the chance to see the "old" songs be played either... i don't think so.. and if you do, then you shouldn't waste your time with this mailing list. so... don't tell me how much you think TRT sucks. it's a mute point and i could give a fuck. just be happy that they're playing music (and that will's not a foo fighter). ryan out. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I heard about that too. From what i remember, dan took a much more involved approach into the lyrics than jeremy did, probably just because jeremy was busy playing guitar, bass, piano, etc... Lyrics are the biggest problem i have w/this album, though they definately don't bug me as much as some of you have stated. The lyrics on some songs (disappear, snibe, etc) just sound really pretentious and not at all what SDRE would normally do...hopefully, this is due to dan's involvement, and we can all hope that jeremy takes over again next time around. As far as the songs themselves, i really don't mind them that much (i think i'm the only one on here who enjoys "television"). When i first got the album, i liked every single song, but now i'm realizing more and more what i do and don't like about it. It is a decent album (much better than most other stuff out there right now), just not what we've come to expect from SDRE. I guess only time will tell as to whether this "new" style will stick around.
[sdre-l]: FERRIS
On Sat, 17 Feb 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ryan, having been on the mailing list for no doubt as long as you myself, I feel I am qualified to reply to this - I've yet to see anyone post any message that says the following: "TRT sucked, why don't they break up the band because they suck so much? They suck-diddly-uck and should be a band no more." Having said that, your argument seems to be a bit of a strawman - no one is saying they should break up. So, to me at least, it's like your trying to address a problem that doesn't exist. Furthermore, it is my opinion that, by and large, TRT wasn't all that good. Not bad, but bad for SDRE. Does that mean they should break up? Hell no, they can keep doing whatever they want, I've long since moved on to bands like Cursive to get my Diary-era music fix. However, it also doesn't mean that we can't properly roast them for putting out something that many don't like. Yet, at the same time, a lot of people need to lighten up. Personally, I give bands a 'breathing room' of about two or three album - if they put out two or three albums that I just plain do not like, then they don't get my interest or my money without them having to re-prove themselves (in other words, I am not there at the music stores the day the CD comes out, regardless of if I've heard it or not). Tori Amos has run out of breathing room with her last few albums; Sunny Day I still believe in. Incidentally, the way the songs sound live is of little importance - if they don't sound good on the CD, people won't go to the shows (except the fans like you and I who know they rock live). The first exposure to a band more often than not comes by way of Radio or CD in the 'big buisness' marketplace, which it seems SDRE is trying to crack. Relying on good live shows to hook new viewers doesn't work when live shows are stuffed with people who are already fans - preaching to the converted, if you will. Finally, just a list moderation note - posts strictly about hum are a no-go, so try to mix in some SDRE opinion or facts with your posts. And try notto restate opinions in your own words - adda new thought to it. Obviously in this sort of discussion lots of people feel the same way, so if you make a post that doesn't point out anything new, i.e. you deliver the same analysis of a song or whatever as someone else already ahs, it's not likely to go through because that's basically just a me-too post. (Having said that I don't have a photographic memory of what has and hasn't been said so there's probably still a 50/50 chance it'll go thorugh. :)) (In short, RYan, I agree they rock live but don't see that people are saying they should break up. People can complain about the band if they want to because those sort of opinions are just as valid as complimentary ones.) I don't know why, but i'm gonna apologize in advance (probably because i'm planning on using foul language.) I've been on this list a long time (a LONG time). Don't take that as me saying i'm better or more intelligent or anything, i'm just saying that i've been around the block here a few times. (If i thought i was better than you, i'd tell you straight up :-) ). I've heard complaints about TRT come and go. I heard complaints about HIFTBSO. And through it all i've just kind of chuckled on the inside. how many of you have seen them live? those of you who have are quite lucky. I myself have been the lucky member of about 8 shows. Every single show was awesome. every fucking song that they played was off the hook amazing. I don't care how it sounded on the record, live, those songs held up and they fucking rocked the house. now... how many of you were around when there was no SDRE? either before or after the break up, doesn't matter. Remember how much it sucked to love the band so much, but it really didn't matter because they weren't there? Remember how fucking great it felt when we heard that they were back in the studio? remember that show at the moore theater where there wasn't a dry eye in the house? through all your complaints of TRT (and even HIFTBSO), would you rather go back to the days where there WAS NO sdre? would you rather be robbed of those live shows? miss out on those moments of pure elation and sorrow at the same time? remember that this means that you will never have the chance to see the "old" songs be played either... i don't think so.. and if you do, then you shouldn't waste your time with this mailing list. so... don't tell me how much you think TRT sucks. it's a mute point and i could give a fuck. just be happy that they're playing music (and that will's not a foo fighter). ryan out. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I heard about that too. From what i remember, dan took a much more involved approach into the lyrics than jeremy did, probably just because jeremy was busy playing guitar, bass, piano, etc... Lyrics are the
[sdre-l]: TRT
since everyone's sounding off... this was something i posted to the official bulletin board a while ago: - i'm a huge fan of sunny day real estate, have been since diary. i've seen them a bunch of times, have tons of their posters and cds and vinyl all over my bedroom, and i listen to them practically every day. my ears perk up when i overhear people talking about sunny days or real estate, even when they have nothing to do with the band. when i found out they were getting back together i screamed and cried and called everyone i knew. diary changed my life before i even put it into my cd player, just thumbing through the lyrics on the drive back home from the record store (i was 14 or so at the time) made me want to just break down and cry and scream and i listened to it every night for two months to the point where i had to beg a friend to take it off my hands for a few months just because i couldn't sleep anymore. of course, i was in a point in my life where i was very depressed (over a girl, of course) and that's what made me click with the album so much in the first place. i've bought diary three times. the first copy got stolen, the second copy got scratched from me taking it everywhere, and the third copy a got a few weeks ago. to this day i call diary my favorite album. but, i can hardly listen to it anymore. not because it's emotionally overwhelming for me like it when i was 15, but because i'm not at that point anymore. i have a girlfriend and we've been together for a year. i'm out of school and i have a full-time job. i'm rarely ever depressed. although "how it feels to be something on" and "the rising tide" don't sonically and emotionally blow me away like diary and lp2 *DID*, they are more well-crafted musical works of art then the past two records are. sunny day has moved on from that era, just as i have. and although i still pop diary into my cd player every once in a while (and i still can't wait to see them play more older stuff live), i listen to the rising tide almost every day (not including in-store play). something as simple as the rolling bassline at the end of "tearing in my heart" capitivates me more than the passionate wails of "48." - and that still holds true to this day (except i split up with my girlfriend). so, maybe i'm one of the few... but i'm an old school sdre fan that totally understands (at least, i think i do) the direction they are going... i absolutely adore the rising tide. sure, i have a few problems with it (just like everyone other sdre record, and every other album i own for that matter), a few of the lyrics are "awkward," "television" (although i do like it) reminds me way tooo much of pearl jam's "jeremy" (although supposedly the band didn't even realize it)... but for the most part it's an amazing, well-crafted album with just enough production. whereas diary was about blowing you away with distorted guitar and screaming, and hiftbso was about proving that their music could be just as emotional without much of either, TRT has just enough diary-style rocking and hiftbso-style mellowness and superb vocals. the lyrics are a departure from the earlier records, and i think a lot of people get confused by that... but i like them. at first, it was almost kind of shocking to hear jeremy sing lines like "let's say you found a gun... how would your bad side burn?" and that kind of made it cool. to me sunny day has always been more about the way the words are sung then the actual lyrics... diary has a few lyrics that sound like bad high-school poetry, but the passion in jeremy's vocals communicates so much more. just like in TRT, although one's "everything and everyone..." is tremendously clich, you get a feeling that the band means way more than that. every song on TRT communicates a specific feeling or message and i love them all. what the hell do i listen to besides sunny day, you ask? i listen to my fair share of the emo/indie stuff out there: cursive, juliana theory, at the drive-in, death cab for cutie, mineral, modest mouse, built to spill, pedro the lion, elliott smith, etc... however my music collection contains albums by people from garth brooks to snoop dogg. in fact i listen to a lot of hip-hop like wu-tang, jurassic 5, black eyed peas... and yes, even eminem, more "mainstream" rock like deftones, smashing pumpkins, and even (gasp!) foo fighters, neo-punk shiznit like nofx, h2o, 88 fingers louie, millencolin, afi... white-boy funk like dub narcotic, soul coughing... "fun" stuff like the presidents, weezer, nerf herder... and since i'm from seattle, i have my fair share of nirvana, pearl jam, and soundgarden records... basically i listen to everything but sugar pop, techno, limp bizkit-type bands, and so-called "easy listening." but my favorite band of all time continues to be sunny day real estate... they have yet to let me down. i just have this crazy feeling that
Re: [sdre-l]: TRT (and Hum)
i agree with u on the whole LP2 thing, that's my #2 fav SDRE record...and my girlfriend's #1i just think TRT is getting bad rapp...there's just too many closed minds dude, some people just gotta open up and realize that there's still all the elements in place that makes SDRE what they are...next record should be different... and i look forward to it...HIFTBSO will still always be the best...just because it's the best theme record SDRE has ever done, everything flows perfect, and you glean something new from the songs every time u listen to itanyway srry to bore you dude... peace - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 1:48 PM Subject: Re: [sdre-l]: TRT (and Hum) WORD UP!!! HUM IS FRIGGIN AMAZING!! :) those guys need to get back together and fast... tho I am curious about Centaur. I think, tho my opinion always changes, right now Hum is my #1 and SDRE's like 2 or 3 or something. np, ironically enough: Hum - "If You are to Bloom" - j o e
Re: [sdre-l]: genuine? humble? ambitious? don't bet on it
wow, where did that come from? i met them after their halloween show in madison, wi, and there were nothing but unpretentious and humble to the fans who waited outside for them. there weren't many of us, maybe 10 at one point. they stood out there and talked to us for well over an hour, and were amazingly friendly. maybe you just bumped into them at a bad time mani consider myself lucky that they had the energy to talk to their fans after such a great performance, so i think maybe when you met them, they just weren't in the same mood they were in when i met them. people are people, we all have our bad moods. if i was in a band, i'm sure i would take a lot of time to talk to my fans, but i also know that i couldn't do it every single time someone came up to me. it's a weird perspective, but i just think your degrading comments toward them are a result of feeling let down by not getting to talk to them at a good point in their lives, or something. bummer, man, i wish you could have been there when i met them. matt - Original Message - From: Charlie Wagner [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 12:59 PM Subject: [sdre-l]: genuine? humble? ambitious? don't bet on it they are very genuine, very humble and yes, musically ambitious As for the band being genuine and humble, I've never seen any aspect of this after meeting them. I've bumped into Dan and Jeremy twice, both times Dan gave me a big "I'm a rockstar, I know I'm wonderful" act, and Jeremy just ignored me and treated me like an asshole (there were three of us and him outside Slim's this last time, the only people on the street, and he still did not say one word to us even after we said hi and complimented his band). SDRE has turned into a huge conglamorate "rawk" band, a band who knows they're good, and has let it go to their heads. This is not the friendly, likable group of artistic pioneers it once was. This is a band who has left behind any artistic integrity they had in search of the almighty dollar. I used to think there was nothing worse than a mediocre band who thinks they're great. Sunny Day's worse then that; they're a medicore band who used to be great and thinks they still are. The Rising Tide is a joke. The prog-rock finger is pointed simply because the album is a wannabe prog-rock album, from the cryptic, mystical lyrics, to the overblown production, to the neo-new age artwork, right down to the "artistic" pictures fo themselves in the liners. They list every goddamn instrument and who plays what on each track, like someone would care that on "The Rising Tide" Jeremy did vocals, bass, guitar, piano, and keys, or that Dan played a lap steel on "Killed By an Angel." Prog-rock ultimately brings around an image of pretentiousness, and that's exactly what SDRE has on an unprecedented level. They got lazy, they claimed importance and respect they didn't deserve, and this is the result: a half-assed album with gobs and layers of production and added crap to cover that THERE ARE NO REALLY GOOD SONGS ON IT. Maybe the ho-hum-nobody-gives-a-shit reaction to it will give the band a wake up call and they'll stick to the music instead of fantasy visions of arenas and devil signed hands flung up in the air. But since they're already at work again(!) on another album, I really doubt that. To see what I listen to, go to my blog and click "music." from Charlie Wagner | AIM=themadlord np: Enon, "Believo!" band=http://speedlab.cjb.net/ blog=http://thepleasuresofzero.tripod.com/ zine=http://scientificreviews.tripod.com/ _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Re: [sdre-l]: TRT
i just have this crazy feeling that their fifth album is going to be their best yet... and will unite all of the subscribers of this list in sunny day love. who's with me? Even though I rip on TRT a lot, I remember reading somewhere that some reviewer said the band was one album away from their OK Computer, and I agree with that. I think they've gotten far enough to realize their successes and their failures and can determine what will fit and what won't in their next release or the one after that. from Charlie Wagner | AIM=themadlord np: All Natural Lemon Lime Flavors, "Straight Blue Line" band=http://speedlab.cjb.net/ blog=http://thepleasuresofzero.tripod.com/ zine=http://scientificreviews.tripod.com/ _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
[sdre-l]: oh no, it's a poll question
I realize this question has probably been asked before on the list, but what with all this talk of what the albums mean/don't mean to people, I feel it bares asking (again). What SDRE record means the most to you? Which is your favorite? And please, responses like "I can't choose!" and "Joe, you're so sexy I can't concentrate on an answer" don't work here. If you were going to a desert island for 5 years, and taking more than one SDRE album would somehow result in a nuclear hollocaust, when it comes down to the nitty gritty, which one would you take? send replies to me, not the list - j o e
