Albums

Grandaddy - Sumday

Alex Worsnip 09/06/2003

Rating: 2/5

Blending acoustic guitars with cute, unusual, and sometimes quite silly synths, this does remind you with every step of the last Flaming Lips record. It's not helped by the fact that Jacob Lytle's voice could actually be Wayne Coyne. Occasionally, they're sublime, as on the joyful opening 'Now It's On', with its chugging, rocky guitars and uplifting melodies and yearning, lovely ballad 'The Warming Sun' which is like the Lips doing a cover of 'Imagine'. But too often as on 'The Go In The Go-For-It', they become a second-rate version of the band you can't help hearing them as, with endless “quirky” titles, 'do-doo-doo-doo-doo' intros and references to 'sun', 'smiling' and 'happiness'. They rock up the guitars from time to time, but generally don't stray from the blueprint. It would probably be more enjoyable if it hadn't already been done, and the Eels-esque 'I'm On Standby' is a nice change in that it sounds like a band other than the Flaming Lips too, but its not going anywhere new in the end.