For those of you who know me personally — or at least the general details — then you’ll also know well that I have a “past” with Jeremy Enigk, lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate. We were friends “back in the day”, you might say, though I haven’t seen or spoken to Jeremy in years. Bummer.
It may come as a surprise, though, that I wasn’t much of a Sunny Day fan. Perhaps a twinge of jealousy was the reason, but I listen back to their earliest albums even now and I don’t find much that excites me. It wasn’t until after their (2nd) break-up that I stumbled upon “The Rising Tide”, and thus finally discovered the magic of Sunny Day Real Estate.
Herein lies the rub.
I find an interesting divide between many Sunny Day fans. Many of these fans prefer the early albums *only* and dismiss the later albums — “The Rising Tide” and “How It Feels To Be Something On” — wholesale. As perhaps the “inventors of emo”, some fans consider their later works to be “selling out”, “not Sunny Day”, and so forth. I’ve heard the arguments. Other fans, like myself, prefer their later albums. Without a doubt, they are more commercial, more produced, and more “musical”, in my opinion. Of course, some fans like all Sunny Day material, whether new or old. Fine. For my musical tastes, though, I find that the later albums suit me.
“The Rising Tide” is really a fabulous collection of songs. The album, while more “produced” than earlier efforts, still has a lo-fi, indie vibe to it, and I find a nice continuity between the tracks. They “fit together”, if you will, and it makes for a nice full-album listening experience. Some personal favorite tracks are ‘Snibe’, ‘Fool In The Photograph’, and the beautiful ‘Faces In Disguise’. I’m jealous again.
Any fans of Jeremy’s solo work or The Fire Theft should really check out this album, but you already knew that.
Y.I.P.C.A.N.J.O 
It’s funny that you should mention SDRE, because I just saw Jeremy Enigk last night when he played in Dallas at the House of Blues. I thought he played an awesome show, I’m always surprised by the fact that he seems to sound just as good live as he does in recording. I wish he would’ve stayed around to meet & greet, but I guess he was a bit tired. Ah well, maybe next time.
As for SDRE itself, I too prefer the later stuff. I love “Seven” and “In Circles” from their Diary album, but that’s about all I liked from it that I can recall. “The Rising Tide” is the only other album I own, and I also feel that it was a great album, it was well put together and it had a moodiness to it that I always love to hear. I haven’t heard the other two albums, though I have caught a smattering of songs from them. Whenever I get money, albums will be purchased…
Also, I love The Fire Theft and I wish they’d make another album together, buuut… something tells me that’s a ways away if at all from happening. Jeremy Enigk is about to release a new album this Fall or as late as January which he recorded in Spain, apparently. I was excited to hear about it, I hope it turns out as good as the rest of his solo stuff!
Anyway, I have you (and the rest of Poor Old Lu) to thank for me ever having even heard of Jeremy Enigk. It’s kind of funny, at first when I heard “Digging Deep,” I thought it was just Aaron singing kinda weird… and then I actually read the album credits! 😛
Finally, don’t feel jealous. As great a musician as Jeremy Enigk is, Poor Old Lu still remains perpetually as at least one of my favorite bands of all time for many reasons. As late as it is, I won’t go into those reasons now, but yeah… no reason to feel jealous, for sure.
I appreciate that, man. I don’t get so jealous that it ruins my life or anything, but I do find many albums and songs that I “wish I’d written”. Such is life, I guess, and it has to be tempered with reason.
I also appreciate your kind words about Lu 🙂
I bet 99% of the bands/artists out there feel the same way every once and then, and you’re right, such is life. For me personally, Jesse Sprinkle’s “Sunsites” is one of those kinds of entire albums that I wish I was talented enough to have written. I play guitar, I’m learning cello, but yeah… I’ve got a long road ahead of me before I get as good as I’d like to be.
Ha. Yip and I were talking about SDRE awhile back (maybe that’s what prompted this post/his listening to them again?) and I mentioned that I always thought it was Aaron singing in Digging Deep as well. They do have very similar tones to their voices in some respects, though once you recognize that they’re not the same person, you do then discover the differences. I’d forgotten about Jeremy’s bands since we last talked, time for me to get back on it again. :o)