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Albums Of The Decade: #3

The Sophtware Slump - Grandaddy [2000]

I, like at least three other people, was actually very sad when Grandaddy announced their split a few years ago. They've made some damn good records in their time - 2003's Sumday is well worth a listen or four - but no better than this, their defining opus, The Sophtware Slump.

The album is often called an American OK Computer, which really doesn't do it justice. Yes, the two are similar in handling the concept of technology: as the self-explanatory Broken Household Appliance National Forest demonstrates, The Sophtware Slump sees Grandaddy at the height of their 'Won't somebody think of the machines?' distress. But it's so much more than an imitation of a much more successful band; in fact, comparing it to OK Computer possibly does it something of a disservice. Besides, in sound it has more in common with Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

Bookending The Sophtware Slump are two earth-shatteringly beautiful songs, albeit beautiful in very different ways. He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot, opening track, nine-minute single and the true triumph in Grandaddy's career, is a truly wonderful epic split into three parts. After a stuttering intro, the long-awaited chord on 1:19 is somehow one of the most heartwarming sounds put to record. Then "I believe they want you to give in" and the melancholy layered vocal refrains carrying you through to the end. It's wondrous.

At the other end of the scale and tracklisting, So You'll Aim Toward The Sky sweeps you up into the clouds with a soaring string arrangement and plink-plonk piano, before landing you back in the real world with a bump as the album finishes with the whisper, "Good luck." Shame that luck never held out for Grandaddy.

Other standouts include simple rocker Hewlett's Daughter, even simpler rocker Chartsengrafs, the more complex and mesmerising Miner At The Dial-A-View and Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground), a low-key number with a superb tune and playful lyrics:

You said I'd wake up dead drunk alone in the park
I called you a liar
But how right you were
I try to sing it funny like Beck but it's bringing me down
Lower than ground
Beautiful ground

And this is not to mention The Crystal Lake, a brilliant single if ever there was one. Simultaneously miserable and uplifting, it's an absolute cracker. "Should never have left the crystal lake for areas where trees are fake and dogs are dead with broken hearts, collapsing by the coffee carts," sings Jason Lytle over looping synths and crashing guitars.

The whole of The Sophtware Slump conjures one of the most unexpectedly potent images imaginable: a desolate world of broken machines, backward men and rotting countryside. It's one hell of an sight.

So is this album placed this high on the list because of posthumous nostalgia, just as everyone raved that much more about Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker? I'd like to think not. The Sophtware Slump is an alternative classic of the turning millennium, that should be listened to in decades to come. It is sad Grandaddy are gone, but they did leave us with this: an utterly beautiful record - no more, no less.

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Albums Of The Decade: #3 + TIME