Say Anything: Say Anything is A Real Boy : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

This barely legal L.A. two-piece peddles razorbacked pop-punk hooks grown in a place songwriter Max Bemis calls the "United States of Woe" -- apparently the rocky middle ground between Bright Eyes and bands like Saves the Day. Full of spittle and spleen and literate means, Bemis disses his own "artful abortions of sound, sealed with a kiss and slathered in the sauce sarcastic" ("The Futile") while Coby Linder's thunderous drumming makes Taylor Hawkins sound limp-wristed. Say Anything is premium emo, with frills: "Alive With the Glory of Love" features doo-wop harmonies, and "I Want to Know Your Plans" has a melodica solo. Nearly a year and a half after the album's indie release, J Records has reissued it with a superlative seven-track bonus disc, which includes "Total Revenge," a scorching torch song their new labelmate Alicia Keys should consider covering.