SAY ANYTHING

"SAY ANYTHING IS A REAL BOY"

Review Date: 08/05/04

Rating: 10+/10

Rewiewed By: suj

Lets face it today's music ain’t what it use to be. We are consistently saturated with generic pop, rock, and rap. The charts are controlled by teenage girls as evident in Ashlee Simpson's debut album hitting the number one spot in its first week of release. It just seems wrong to me that there is so much good music out there that's not getting the chance to be heard instead the general masses must hear corny love songs by rich white girls or wanna-be gangsters shouting about how bad-ass they are yet they live in mansions surrounded by endless amount of bodyguards. Music today just utterly sucks! I wish that we would be able to retreat to a simpler time where music was real. I wish we could capture its essence, its attitude and its honesty and sprinkle it upon the youth of today to show them why Elvis is the king of rock, why Bob Dylan spoke for a generation, why the Beatles made people believe, why music fed the soul and made every rotten thing about life seem like it was going to be okay.....alas I've seen the future and its filled with promise as music as we know it has its new savior and in Max Bemis and Say Anything we must trust.

Its in the simplicities in telling a story of life that makes music real and prominent like a new born baby opening its eyes for the very first time. Say Anything is unlike any band you have heard. With gruff vocals, gang chants, and blistering melody are fully enforced. There is a hidden genius in every line and its essential for the listener be able to sit back and soak in every poignant line spit forth from the voice of Max Bemis and then pause between songs, take a breath and open your eyes like a new born baby and come to realize its greatness. This album may very well become the soundtrack to our commercial consumed generation.

"And the record begins with a song of rebellion." is what Max Bemis states in the opening seconds of the album and its in those nine words that we are taken into a consequential storyline of brooding angst, hate, love, sex, drugs, life, which opens you up to an experience you will never forget.

By the first four song it will be clearly shown that Max has a decisive hold on crafting songs that do not follow a formula. With lyrics such as, “she took pity on me, horizontally, but most likely because of my band,” or “and she said I can’t get laid in this town without these pointy fucking shoes…” you can hear as it screams with brutal honesty and the gall of brilliance. It’s like nothing you’d expect to hear, it’s like the bold intelligence of Conner Oberst combined with the timeless essence of rock and soulful fumes of blues. The whole album is one of the most honest, gutsy, and original material to ever been grouped together. The songs combine, weave, and intertwine all of the above aspects into every riff, beat, and lyric.

The song, “Molly”, contains an infectious chorus and those beloved handclaps that haven’t sounded so sweet since Tom Hanks’ The Wonder’s had em in “That Thing You Do!” or in Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane”. “Chia Like I Shall Grow” at its first spit of its first lyric made me completely shout out in awe of the band’s mastery ability of songwriting.

Its proven that every album must have its acoustic ballad and this cd is no exception. “I Want To Know Your Plan” is about the pain of knowing the one you love is leaving, and how do you deal with that notion. This is a beautiful song and I know sometime down the road I’ll find myself tucked away in the corner of my room with only the light of the moon shining on me while this song plays.

“And the album ends with a song of brilliance.” though Max doesn’t state those nine words it truly does suit. “Admit It!!!” concludes this imaginative album and I will guarantee you this song will go down as one of the most potent commentaries on our pseudo-hippy scene. After listening to this song there should be one of three reactions. One, you find yourself saying “fuck, that was brilliant” then like me you will dub this collection of music as the album of the year and listen to it over and over until you start to see some kind of Pat Morita incarnation teaching you the secrets of karate. Two, you find yourself saying “meh, that was alright” then you’ll probably enjoy the cd and it may grow on you. And three, you find yourself saying “I don’t get it? That was kinda of stupid” then you probably won’t appreciate the honesty of the music or you may in fact be Ashlee Simpson herself.

The truth is this, like I’ve said many times in this review this album is brilliant, honest, gutsy, witty, creative, and something we don’t hear everyday. So I encourage you all to please step away from what’s “in” right now in the music scene and just give this disc a listen cause it may every well become the greatest thing you’ll ever listen to this year and years to come.