Sumday
Encyclopedia
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".
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". 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. The CMJ New Music Report made it their 'essential release' in May 2003, with Antonia Santangelo calling it a "genuinely wholehearted work", and in their end of year review placed it at number seven in their top albums of the year. 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
. Allmusic's Heather Phares called it "pleasant enough" but "bland and complacent". Sophie Best of The Age
called it "another sprawling sonic Grandaddy adventure, shimmering with wistful sincerity and rural-tinged psychedelia". 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".
2003 (tracks 1-6) and 3 tracks taken from The Black Sessions in Paris
(tracks 7-9).
.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Grandaddy
Grandaddy
Grandaddy was an American indie rock band, formed in 1992 in Modesto, California by singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Jason Lytle, bassist Kevin Garcia, and drummer Aaron Burtch. Guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden later joined the band in 1995...
, released in May 2003 by V2 Records
V2 Records
V2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
. 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".
Reception
Adrien Begrand, reviewing the album for PopMattersPopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
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". He commented on similarities to the Alan Parsons Project ("Now It's On"), ELO ("The Go in the Go For It"), and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
("Lost on Yer Merry Way"), and noted an improvement in Lytle's songwriting. The CMJ New Music Report made it their 'essential release' in May 2003, with Antonia Santangelo calling it a "genuinely wholehearted work", and in their end of year review placed it at number seven in their top albums of the year. 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
The Sophtware Slump
The Sophtware Slump is the second studio album by American indie rock band Grandaddy, released in 2000. The album received strong reviews from most critics. It is seen by some as a concept album about problems concerning modern technology in society. The title is a reference to the sophomore slump,...
. Allmusic's Heather Phares called it "pleasant enough" but "bland and complacent". Sophie Best of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
called it "another sprawling sonic Grandaddy adventure, shimmering with wistful sincerity and rural-tinged psychedelia". The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s Alan Woodhouse gave it 8/10, saying the songs sound "pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record".
Track listing
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 FestivalGlastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
2003 (tracks 1-6) and 3 tracks taken from The Black Sessions in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(tracks 7-9).
Disc 2
Sales and charts
By 2006, the album had sold 110,000 copies. It reached number 22 in the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.