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Baseball: An Album by Sayanything

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Baseball: An Album By Sayanything is the debut album from American rock band, Say Anything. At the time of the album's release, the band was known as Sayanything, which is the name that appears on the cover of the album. As few as 200 CD copies of the original album were pressed and have recently been bought by fans for more than $250.00 USD on eBay. Additional copies were pressed onto CD-R and sold by the band at their concerts. Today, the album is popular thanks to online distribution methods such as messageboards and P2P file-sharing.

The album has never attained any commercial success, though it has remained a consistent cult favorite. However, in a move reminiscent of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's rejection of his band's Pinkerton album, Say Anything frontman Max Bemis has all but disowned the recording, until very recently refusing to play any of its songs live.

Tracklisting

  1. "Color Blind" – 3:36
  2. "Showdown at P-Town" – 3:03
  3. "Into the Night" – 3:48
  4. "All My Friends" – 2:48
  5. "Ants in My Pants" – 4:57
  6. "The Ocean Liner Incident" – 2:39
  7. "Mackdaddy" – 3:45
  8. "Shameless" – 5:45
  9. "That's That (Do What We Want)" – 3:23
  10. "Resounding" – 4:19
  11. "Rats" – 4:54
  12. "(Dreaming Of) Manhattan" – 4:44
  13. "Sure, Baby... Hold Back." – 4:46
  14. "The Last Great Punk Rock Song" – 3:59
  15. "Where the Hurt Is" – 7:41
  16. "All Choked Up" – 7:58 (does not appear on jacket)

Personnel

Band

Maxim Bemis: Vocals/guitars/keys
Coby Linder: Drums
Michael Levin: Bass/vocals
Evan Span: Solo on "All My Friends"
Joey "D" Doleman: Sax on "Ants In My Pants"

Other Credits

Mastered by Brad Vance
Produced by Sayanything
Songs by Sanyanything
Words by Max Bemis

Themes And Styles

Subject Matter

Whereas later works of the band are more self-focused (in the sense of finding one's self and their subsequent place in the world), lyricist Max Bemis focuses more on the typical subjects of pop punk and emo on Baseball: relationships, girls, the "scene," and music itself. A noteworthy example of this stew is at the junction between the songs "Sure, Baby... Hold Back" and "The Last Great Punk Rock Song." The former is a requiem for love lost and a reminder thereof in the form of The Four Tops' "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" playing on the radio. This bleeds into the latter with one mighty distorted chord, and the listener bares witness to Bemis's parody of himself, as he screams: "I've got a few songs about remorse/And I'll sing until my voice grows hoarse/But most are about girl problems.../I will wail about anarchy." The fact that the song is a rerecording of a version on a previous EP certainly suggests that these high-school dramatics did not leave Bemis quickly.

Musical Styles

The style of the album is decidedly emo, particularly in regards to the guitar sound and so on. Quick tempos and distorted powerchords mark the feel. Max does bring out a piano for the hidden solo track "All Choked Up," however.

Liner Notes

NOTE: These are provided in full due to relative inavailability elsewhere.

"Sayanything would like to thank our families, fans, every person or band who has provided us with inspiration or support, and anyone who enjoys our music, or a good shag.

"Special thanks to former members Josh and Evan for any musical input that may appear on this record, and to our beloved unnoficial member Akiva, for nothing an everything."

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