The Anniversary Superdrag

Item: The Anniversary / Superdrag
Author: Tom Bastian

The Anniversary / Superdrag

(2001)

Reviewed by Tom Bastian

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Label Vagrant RecordsDecapolisJanuary 2002

power pop roots rock

This is the first release in the Vagrant Records Split EP series. The Knoxville, TN based band Superdrag (Arena Rock Records) team up with Vagrant/Heroes & Villains recording artist The Anniversary for this split EP release.

I have to admit I'm not much of a fan of the split EP release, or any EP release for that matter. I have always been more interested in bands full-length releases. But since all three songs from both bands are exclusive to this EP that kind of helps to make up for things.

The Anniversary open up the EP with the song "O'Lady Butterfly" a very heavily roots rock based song, harmonica and all. Think Wilco or Whiskeytown. A bit of a drastic change, especially for one band to make from one release to the next. I had kind of been alerted to the major change in sound and style for this band, but I'm not exactly sure I was expecting this much of a change. The second track entitled "Anais" sounds very much like something we may expect out of the band the Danielson Family. Kind of quirky and odd to say the least. The last track for the Anniversary "Up In the Sky" screams Sergeant Pepper era Beatles. Everything from the vocal melodies to the instrumentation used points to the Beatles influence. Overall a bit of a disappointment with these three tracks. Maybe it has something to do with all these songs being "spontaneously written and recorded during the last week of September, 2001" as the notes in the CD packaging read. Hopefully the full-length lends a bit more for this band (as a side note, I have heard the new full-length and it is much, much better than these songs...review coming soon).

Superdrag is one of the bands that I have heard a lot about and that I may have even heard a few times during my college radio days, but that I never really got into that much. I have this EP to thank for sparking an interest in Superdrag for me though. I really enjoyed what I heard from these guys. Nothing ground breaking just solid pop rock songs. On the songs "Emotional Kind" and "I Guess It's American" the band reminded me a lot of the band Fountains of Wayne; a band I really enjoy. After listening to these songs Superdrag is definitely on my list of bands to look into more.

Anniversary - C-
Superdrag - B

Average Grade - C+