Search - Modest Mouse :: Sad Sappy Sucker

New "old" songs

gtigrl | New York | 05/07/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Read the 11 reviews before mine and you see people have mixed feelings about Sad Sappy Sucker by Modest Mouse. There are a few good songs on this release, but all in all, the songs are short, undeveloped blasts of randomness. I'm not saying you shouldn't add Sad Sappy Sucker to your collection, but new Modest Mouse listeners beware...you'd be better off going with This Is A Long Drive or any of the others. Long time fans should be happy to have the additional songs, although most have been available on 7"s and on the web for a while."

Interesting and enjoyable

Kevin Mulcahy | east lansing | 04/26/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One word I would NOT use to describe this release is "brilliant." It's scattered, underdeveloped, and sometimes grating. Having said that, if you are a big fan of Modest Mouse, this is an absolute must-have (unless, of course, you are a REALLY big fan, and you already have all these songs on all the damn 7-inches). Sad Sappy Sucker shows a side of Modest Mouse that they haven't shown fans on any of their other releases. I'd always heard comparisons to Pavement and Built to Spill, and here and there I could pick something out in their music that resembled these bands, but this release shows exactly how much Modest Mouse developed into their own sound from a very derivative beginning. First of all, Sad Sappy Sucker contains only two songs over 3 minutes long, and none that hit the 3:10 mark; hearing such short songs coming from MM is extremely odd, and probably one of the reasons this release is so interesting for me. The songs were recorded in 1994-95, and sound heavily influenced by Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and Built to Spill's There's Nothing Wrong with Love. They have all the raw charm, energy, and weirdness of songs on those albums, stamped with just enough of Isaac Brock's own flavor (and he had plenty of it, even at this young age) to make them new. Unfortunately, the majority of the songs don't have the yearning and desperation of Pavement or the beauty and fragility of Built to Spill to make Sad Sappy Sucker a true classic; so only four stars. I will reiterate that this album is one that will probably only appeal to big fans, and is definitely NOT a starting-out point."

Worthy of Release

Andrew | 05/04/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Screaming for the hell of it, the offbeat crashing cymbals, and rusty sounding guitars. Hmmm... It sounds like some amateur indie rock band. Modest Mouse are certainly not some amateur indie rock band, but they sure as hell were back in 1994. Sad Sappy sucker is an album by a bunch of kids with ADD playing in some shack and wailing away on their instruments. Playing 30 second blurbs and saying "Wow, that was kind of neat, Let's put that on the album". This was an album that modest mouse did not want to release until now. Why did they decide to release it now instead of back in 94? I think they just wanted to put it out and see what happens to it. If a hundred people out of 40,000 like it, that means a hundred people like the album. Sad Sappy Sucker is by no means the band's best effort, but it is a fun collection of songs by a young band with a temendous amount of promise."