(30th Century Records) Way We Won’t,the opening track on Grandaddy’s fifth album, has a chugging, and Weezer-style fuzz guitar and faux-naive riff that recall their best-known song – AM 180,from their debut album Under the Western Freeway, now 20 years old. But Grandaddy acquire broadened their sonic palette. Last set is more sophisticated and less self-consciously wacky than some of the Californians’ preceding releases, and better for it. Slower songs This Is the piece and The Boat Is In employ a string section and reach a Mercury Rev-like psychedelic reverie. The melody of I Don’t Wanna Live Here Anymore is instantly memorable. That’s What You Get for Gettin’ Outta Bed starts off as a softly strummed minor-key lament but finishes as a swoonsome remodelling of the Beatles It’s Only Love. And Check Injin shows Grandaddy’s alt-rock credentials to be in impeccable (perfect, flawless) order,with its unpredictable lurches in direction and pace worthy of the Pixies.
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Source: theguardian.com