Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump

Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years since Grandaddy released their then second album, The Sophtware Slump. Widely considered by many as the band’s finest moment (they split in 2006), the album has now been reissued in a deluxe package, comprising a whopping 19 extra tracks on a second disc, some of which are early versions of songs featured on the original album. There’s also the obligatory b-sides, EP only tracks and rarities that always crop up on the average deluxe reissue. So the burning question is how does the album hold up after 11 years? And will the bonus disc actually be a bonus, or a collection of throwaway cuttings from the studio floor? 

‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot’ is a pretty good place to start the album and a perfect example of what you can expect from Grandaddy on this album (or any other album for that matter). The song opens with lots of effects, bird song and a vocal coming from a distance. It’s got a very lo-fi/DIY feel to it, which is common in almost all of their music. There’s a count in and a lovely guitar and vocal come in elevating the song. The mixture of effects, simple guitars, beautiful vocals and the background tape hiss all make it a thing of sheer beauty and a great opener.

There’s a more conventional feel to ‘Hewlett’s Daughter’, which burst into your consciousness with a blast of Lytle’s high vocal and the great rhythm section. Effects are more subtly employed on this great track. ‘The Crystal Lake’ is similarly structured, if a little quicker but both stand out on first listen. ‘Chartsengrafs’ could also fall into this category, albeit sounding more basic in its quick-fire delivery of rocking guitars. 

‘Underneath The Weeping Willow’ is, by contrast to the more obvious standouts, a very low key song. There’s lo-fi guitar and piano, but buried underneath are some crazed piano notes, giving it a barely heard edge. It’s melancholic but beautiful. The mixture of nature and technology features on a few songs, namely the excellent ‘Jed The Humanoid’ and ‘Broken Household Appliance National Forest’. On the title alone, the latter could be taken as the band’s stance on recycling and the environment. It’s a good, simple guitar and the tempo hits the highs on the chorus, when the guitar gets rockier. On verses though, it’s a simpler affair with a sprinkling of effects and another great vocal part from Jason Lytle. Jed The Humanoid makes a return on ‘Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)’. It’s another heartfelt song, with some effects and drums underneath. The sound rises and falls lending atmosphere while Lytle sings about wanting to sound like Beck. 

There’s even an interlude thrown in (‘E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils Of Keeping It Real)’ to be precise), while songs like ‘Miner At The Dial-A-View’ and ‘So You’ll Aim Toward The Sky’ are fragile sounding songs, with emotive vocals from Lytle. The guitars and drums throughout the album are fantastic. At times they are so subtle they appear not to be there, but the way in which these songs are constructed is something to behold. Every year or two some magazine or website will publish a list of the greatest albums ever recorded this decade/century/ever. Whatever the list, The Sophtware Slump should feature on it. 

Disc Two is home to the curios, rarities, alternate versions, demos and songs that didn’t make the cut for whatever reason. Of the songs featured on the original release, demo versions of ‘Hewlett’s Daughter’ and ‘Chartsengrafs’ feature, as well as a discarded into to ‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot’, here called simply ‘Discarded Pilot Intro’. Of the three, ‘Chartsengrafs’ is probably the one that will grab people, basically being the final version, layered in a liberal dose of distortion. ‘Hewlett’s Daughter’ is a basic, acoustic first draft while the discarded intro could almost slot right into the first third of the final version. The real standouts from the songs that don’t feature on the album are ‘Our Dying Brains’ – a real feelgood song that was a live favourite, ‘Wives Of Farmers’ – Lytle’s homage to the wives of farmers and ranchers he’d meet when recording in rural studios – and ‘Street Bunny’, a real high tempo song with jagged, slashing guitars that makes you want to jump around like a lunatic. The latter being based on a real life rabbit that Lytle attempted to aid only to be growled at. Makes sense that this is him growling back. 

There’s a good few songs that take simple component parts, like a basic guitar or a simple piano and add touches of electronic effects that all serve to give it the signature lo-fi Grandaddy sound such as ‘L.F.O.’, ‘Wonder Why In L.A.’ and ‘XD-Data-II’. On ‘Moe Bandy Mountaineers’ there’s a definite nod to country music and a wink in the direction of a Mr J. Cash, while the heartstrings are tugged on songs such as ‘Rode A Bike To My Stepsisters Wedding’ and ‘Beautiful Ground’.

It wouldn’t be complete without the oddities though and ‘N. Blender’ (a reference to a hero of Lytle’s), ‘She-Deleter’ – a song that flits between sudden tempo changes – and ‘Air Conditioners In The Woods’, which lasts as long as it takes Jason Lytle to sing the title. There are more besides these, but the second disc is a good cross section of Grandaddy as a band. They can easily blend lo-fi acoustic to pretty out there electronica and give it all a DIY production feel. Lytle’s voice is simply stunning. He can change the emotions of a song on a whim and is at home singing on the faster, rockier songs like ‘Chartsengrafs’ as he is on the emotional songs. 

The Sophtware Slump is a brilliant piece of music in every way. Grandaddy deserve to be talked about alongside the greats of the last 20 years based on this album alone. As a Deluxe Reissue this is a fantastic package. You get the remastered original album and a bonus disc with 19 extra tracks on it. The insights into the band around the time of the album that this offers is fantastic and there are some real gems on the second disc. This is a band that marries technology, DIY and lo-fi into one brilliant package and you can hear it all on this peerless album. Do yourself a favour and go get it. You won’t regret it.

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