Ahhh the epic double album, the ultimate in rock n’ roll excess. Springsteen did it, GnR did it, The Smashing Pumpkins did it - all with varying results. The thing is, if you’re going to release a double album, you better be damn sure. Which brings us to October 23rd (The not too distant future) and the release of Say Anything’s double album, “In Defense of the Genre,” a sprawling, spotty and sometimes great album with with enough lows to make it’s length slightly unnecessary.
Max Bemis is bi-polar - Not in the way that girl down the hall claims to be bi-polar when she gets her period, but the real, chemical imbalance bi-polar. You get the feeling that Max writes the music when he’s at one end of the spectrum and the words at another end which is interesting, but dangerous. Some things are fine written in your personal journal, but sound laughable out loud, which is really the main problem I have with this double album - max says too much. His angst and sheer amount of words discredit his talent as a song writer on this album. For every good song (and there are…well…about 13 or 14) there is a song that is difficult to listen to…a song that makes Max sound unsure of himself and what he is doing. If you’re releasing a double album, you better be damn sure.
Not to constantly rag on the album…it’s got its high points. The guest list reads like a who’s who of scene cred. It’s worth listening to the album just to figure out who’s guesting on what track. The music is also fantastic, a song like “An Insult To The Dead” could be sung in a coffee house…while “Baby Girl, I’m A Blur” sounds like a wild night in Trent Reznor’s basement. It’s a mash up and it’s enjoyable. Max’s vocal performance is also great, he’s a better singer than he was while recording “…Is a Real Boy”…if only he had something better to say all the time.
Say Anything have undertaken something huge, something I doubt many of their counterparts could even conceive. And while I ultimately think they’ve bitten off more than they can chew…it’s exciting to hear them try. As a whole the album is good enough, pick and choose your favorite 13 tracks and it’s great.
