From there, though, the only thing that comes close to moving me is How It Feels To Be Something On. LP2 is a fascinating listen but ultimately feels unfinished, while The Rising Tide never fully connected and hasn’t aged particularly well. He said it was THE BEST album of that year!!! I never spoke to that guy again.Ĭouncil Member #3 - Yo, that was the year “White Pony” came out, that dude’s out of his fucking mind.Ĭouncil Member #4 - OK, but “White Pony” is better than every emo record we’ll talk about here so let’s just give up now. Sidebar: Emo Council Email Chain Regarding “The Rising Tide”Ĭouncil Member #1 - Fun fact: I once saw you essentially end a friendship with someone at Bowery Ballroom when that person said “The Rising Tide” was one of the best albums of 2000.Ĭouncil Member #2 - Not ONE of the best records of 2000. Rare, amazing, and the kind of talent that was hard to find. She was 24 and I was 18… Needless to say, I think that sort of sums up how I felt about that record. I couldn’t believe she was a beautiful drummer of a cool band and she was into me. I also couldn’t believe how amazing it was that I was at her house with her. That first night we hung out, she threw on the ‘ Diary’ LP and I couldn’t believe how amazing it was. I think I remember her being embarrassed at our age difference, but I didn’t care. We never played any shows, I just wanted to hang out with her. We started a band for a short time with another couple of guys - practiced at her mom’s place. She took me to Steak n’ Shake for the first time. We had a short relationship and I’m not sure how it ended, but those days, we didn’t talk on the phone much, we wrote a few letters and whatever, and I think it just sort of fizzled out. She was a drummer for a band and she invited me back to her place after a show with our bands. That ended badly, didn’t it?” The first time I heard Diary, I was at a girl’s house. The first time I heard The Rising Tide I just thought, “Well, fuck. If Diary had lyrics like “Never again my dear / Shall we come dancing here / We’ll play guitar and video games,” I probably would have stayed to watch Velocity Girl that first night. Also, I felt like the quality control was dipping over all. Jeremy Enigk’s Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan phase wasn’t about to hold a candle to Jeff Buckley’s Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan phase, so I wasn’t having it. It was a good album in a lot of ways, but it wasn’t what I loved about Sunny Day Real Estate at all. They played their big New York comeback show at Irving Plaza and instead of playing the “hits,” they played this album from front to back. The first time I heard How It Feels to Be Something On, it was also technically live. Everything I love about SDRE in one quick shot. The first time I heard LP2, someone actually played it to me over the phone and I literally teared up like a One Direction fan because it sounded so good OVER THE PHONE. But then I heard “Seven,” “In Circles,” and “Song About an Angel” - in that order, just like the record - and I was like, “OK, fuck it, I’m leaving after this band I’ve never heard before finishes because what the fuck is Velocity Girl gonna do to top that?” The album’s not perfect, but the peaks are colossal. Sunny Day Real Estate were opening CBGB for Velocity Girl and I fucking LOVED Velocity Girl. The first time I heard Diary, it was technically live. This week’s question: What is the best release by Sunny Day Real Estate? If you have any questions about the council and why we’re here, read this. All of the council’s quotes are posted anonymously. Those rankings are tallied up and presented as the Emo Council’s final list along with quotes related generally or to specific albums. All council members were actively involved in the scene or a fan for each debate and/or topic.Įvery member sends in his or her thoughts and rankings of the topic at hand. The council is a group of bands, writers, music industry executives, regular folks and even parents all passionate about the genre that came together to debate once and for all, the best bands, albums and songs of the emo era. Debating and ranking the albums of Sunny Day Real Estate.