Grandaddy-The Sophtware Slump (2000)

January 10, 2021

Artist: Grandaddy

Title: The Sophtware Slump

Label: V2

Format: CD

Cat #: 63881-27068-2

Year of Release: 2000

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 12/31/20

Sell Price:$2.99

Discogs Last Sold: 10/22/20 $4.27

Low: $0.99

Median: $2.00

High: $4.27

Current low price: $1.34

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 45

Have/Want: 816/71

Where Sold: Singapore via Portland, OR

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought: internet around time of release

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No

Grandaddy is one of those bands I would have ignored if not for a personal recommendation. I seem to remember the recommending party being Paul Simmons of The Alchemysts (and Nick Saloman's partner in crime on The Scene). I remember this earth shaking event happening on the Alchemysts/Aytobach Kreisor tour Kenny and Rubric set up in Kenny's green van which still runs two decades later somewhere between San Francisco, where I flew in with a bad sunburn from Coney Island ("You look like a mutant!" exclaimed Kenny) and Davis, CA. I remember all of this much better than whatever Paul said of Grandaddy, but it was enough for be to buy the CD brand new when I returned to Brooklyn parting ways in LA to let them deal with the insanity of the rest of the tour.

20 years later the first thing that comes to mind is "oh, this is a British Flaming Lips!" Except although they were more popular in the UK, Grandaddy were from Modesto, CA. In fact, since we were staying in Reno, it is quite possible driving through Modesto triggered Paul to talk about Grandaddy who were popular in his homeland. Somehow this detail escaped me until now and I've only begun to put together one of life's great mysteries.

Overall I thought The Sophtware Slump was quite alright with a few strong tracks. Not heavily orchestrated, some electronics, a little grunge in that post grunge phase of major label indie psychedelia. It's going to take a third go-round to write an editors note at the bottom and tell you what those tracks are. In all honesty I think I fell asleep or was half asleep with headphones on the first time and had to go to work before it ended the second time. It's quite possible that I'm writing this without a complete full listen under my belt, although songs felt more familiar deep into the second listen and I was picking favorites out in my brain, which is the sign of a good record.

Dated to it's time, but not quite dated, just less removed from now. . Somebody scarfed up a half dozen CD's from this time period of titles I eagerly bought, played once inattentively and filed away. Bands like Calliope, Butterglory and The Concretes filled out this order from a Singapore native excited to get the lot for under $20. These may or may not be the subject of future writing depending on how sales are in the next few weeks. They all are "effort" reviews, meaning I have to listen to them more than once often with sleep or life interruption fucking up my dedicated listen. Forced immersion is why I prefer the live experience for newer bands. It will just have to be a surprise of which of these bands I considered second best. Or perhaps a question that will never be formally answered.

Grandaddy is the best of this lot.

ED NOTE: Listened all the way through. The tracks I particularly liked were "Chartsengrafs," "Broken Household Appliance National Forest," and "Miner At The Dial-A-View." Looking after the fact at the history of the record, I forgot that the bass player Kevin Garcia passed in 2017 effectively ending the band. I also was unaware that there was a big 20th anniversary rerecording of this last year with leader Jason Lytle doing the whole thing on wooden piano. Finally, there were 3 singles were released off this in the UK and none of them made my top 3: "The Crystal Lake" (a #36 UK chart hit), the opener "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot" and "Hewlett's Daughter" (a #71 UK chart hit).