Sebadoh "Bubble and Scrape" & Everclear "Sparkle and Fade" (Day 32)

'Soul and Fire' starts out "Bubble and Scrape" perfectly with the great drop off in the song's musical tone following that bright guitar-strumming intro.  'Cliche' is a good song, and I can say with certainty that I prefer the Lou Barlow songs over any of the rest.  'Sixteen' and 'Homemade' are both really good songs, and end up being the standouts from this album.  I saw Sebadoh perform this album in 2008 and as they were finishing their set with 'Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)', Public Enemy was getting set up on the next stage.  Every time I hear this song, I think about the ridiculous contrast of these two bands performing on the same bill.  This was made completely evident as Lou Barlow performed this song solo, seated in the center of the stage, while Public Enemy's DJ proceeded to pound out sledgehammer beats and repeatedly run through his mic checks.

Everclear actually did make a good record, and it's "Sparkle and Fade".  I like to joke around about the fact that all of Everclear's songs are basically variations on the same guitar riff, but despite that I really do enjoy this album.  'Santa Monica' is of course the take-away hit, but there are a lot of other strong songs such as 'Pale Green Stars', which is excellent.  I also like 'Summerland' despite, or because of, the fact that every time I hear that song I am 100% convinced that I am listening to Oasis 'Live Forever'.  Those lyrics say it best, "Maybe you're the same as me, we see things they'll never see..."