Ups and Downs,
Saves The Day‘Through Being Cool’ and ‘Can’t Slow Down’ are two records that probably don’t get the praise they deserve. If those records came out now, I think Saves The Day would be bigger than they are (having allegedly just been dropped from a major). If you’re a fan of Saves The Day circa those two albums, and may not have been totally thrilled with the change of direction which littered the last two albums, then ‘Ups and Downs’, a collect of tracks from the ‘golden’ years, will certainly float your boat.
There are b-sides, out-of-print 7” tracks, outtakes from the ‘Stay What You Are’ sessions and even a couple of covers thrown in for good measure. It’s a pretty good retrospective look at Saves The Day up until they jumped ship for the majors. The first three tracks are fantastic, in particular ‘Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off To Heaven’, which featured on an old Vagrant sampler, and ‘Drag In D Flat’. The record then takes a bizarre turn, opting to go for a stack of acoustic tracks from the entire ‘I’m Sorry I’m Leaving’ EP, before picking up speed again.
‘The Art Of Misplacing Firearms’ bridges the gap between very old and nearly new, but it’s the really old tracks, such as ‘East Coast’ and ‘1959’ that make this CD worthy of purchasing. Of course it’s not all good – some of the songs do sound incredibly dated, while others show an extremely naïve approach to songwriting. The tracks often come over as basic, but then Chris’ efforts at 16 were far superior to mine, so I guess I shouldn’t be overly harsh. There’s even a non-Saves The Day track, ‘I Think I’ll Quit’ from the Sefler 7”, and covers of songs from The Clash and The Descendents.
Old-school Saves The Day fans need to buy this record. ‘Ups and Downs’ has enough rare and unreleased material to keep any fan happy and serves as a great reminder of the genius that is Chris Conley. If you fall into that category, add a full star to the score below. However, this collection shows just how far the band have come and how much Conley has matured as a songwriter. Many of these songs were penned at age 16 – and you can tell. If you’re new to the band then start with one of the proper albums, you’ll probably enjoy them more. This is still pretty good mind, even if it does act as a late 90s throwback.
www.savestheday.com
Vagrant Records (Sorepoint in the UK)
Paul
