From hard punk rock of "World of Noise" and "Sparkle and Fade", to more catchy pop sounds of "So Much for the Afterglow" and "Learning How to Smile", to the witty and fun "Good Time For a Bad Attitude"..."Slow Motion Daydream" delivers it all. The first single, "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" may veer off some listeners for it's almost too playful sound w/ hysterical lyrics. In my opinion, that's the worst song on the album, but still great.

Every song on this album has a unique sound to it. From hard hitting guitar riffs of "Blackjack", "I Want to Die A Beautiful Death", and the hidden track title #12, to a more popular fan based sounding "How to Win Friends And Influence People", "The New York Times", and "Sunshine." "New Blue Champion" and "TV Show" are songs made to perfection that could easily outdo any song from "SMFTA". The whole album can be played all the way through w/o skipping through any songs (w/ the exception of "Chrysanthemum" which sort of acts like the intermission of the album).

If you are an everclear fan, this will obviously tell you that this is the best album by far. It has everything! About 8 or 9 songs are single material. Great music masterpieces of "Science Fiction" and "A Beautiful Life" are not to be out done as well. Those are quite frankly my 2 favorite tracks. The lyrics are so meaningful and may be the best everclear songs I have heard of musically.

Best Everclear record ever.
From hard punk rock of "World of Noise" and "Sparkle and Fade", to more catchy pop sounds of "So Much for the Afterglow" and "Learning How to Smile", to the witty and fun "Good Time For a Bad Attitude"..."Slow Motion Daydream" delivers it all. The first single, "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" may veer off some listeners for it's almost too playful sound w/ hysterical lyrics. In my opinion, that's the worst song on the album, but still great.

Every song on this album has a unique sound to it. From hard hitting guitar riffs of "Blackjack", "I Want to Die A Beautiful Death", and the hidden track title #12, to a more popular fan based sounding "How to Win Friends And Influence People", "The New York Times", and "Sunshine." "New Blue Champion" and "TV Show" are songs made to perfection that could easily outdo any song from "SMFTA". The whole album can be played all the way through w/o skipping through any songs (w/ the exception of "Chrysanthemum" which sort of acts like the intermission of the album).

If you are an everclear fan, this will obviously tell you that this is the best album by far. It has everything! About 8 or 9 songs are single material. Great music masterpieces of "Science Fiction" and "A Beautiful Life" are not to be out done as well. Those are quite frankly my 2 favorite tracks. The lyrics are so meaningful and may be the best everclear songs I have heard of musically.

Too subtle for most listeners
This is a very political album that makes statements about the American character in a very underhanded and subtle way -- perhaps a bit too subtly for some folks, given the comments others have made here. While most of the cuts are musically indifferent (just the same old Everclear going through the motions), Art Alexakis' lyrics subtly skewer the nightmare that has become the American Dream, ranging from our loving of turning the world into black and white without color or shades of grey (only good and evil in the American nightmare, not anything inbetween) and our love of goons with blackjacks to keep said evildoers in their place ( his ode to John Ashcroft, "Blackjack" ), our vainglorious pursuit of personal beauty regardless of the price even if it costs our life ( "I want to Die a Beautiful Death", liposuction, anybody?), our hypocrisy towards sex ( "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom"), our desire to live in a world of illusions instead of facing and overcoming reality ("TV Show Life")...

That said, I'd only recommend this album for fans of Everclear. The music is, for the most part, just too darned indifferent to pull you in to the lyrics (and yes, there are a couple of throw-away songs too, so it's not as if all the lyrics are works of genius). That said, it's still better both musically and lyrically than the majority of the drivel out there. I'd suggest starting with _Sparkle and Fade_ or maybe _So Much for the Afterglow_ if you want the full Everclear effect, but if you liked those albums, you'll probably want Slow Motion Daydream too.

The last album for Everclear
Everclear strikes again with their sixth and latest full length recording, Slow Motion Daydream. They've titled this one perfectly, as the whole CD seems to float by much like a day dream. The title track "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" has disgustingly cute lyrics, but also highlights a lesser observed idea about middle class America. In fact, this CD seems to have become Everclear's most political. Other tracks like "Blackjack" present a disturbing view of American politics, while the heart wrenching song of "Chrysanthemum", expresses Alexakis' reaction to the kidnapping and murder of two little girls in California. "Science Fiction" boosts your spirits with the lyric, "Life is always getting better," but don't let fool you because "TV Show" follows closely behind with Alexakis' wishes to put his life back together again.
On the surface this CD looks like a rather happy, pop oriented dizziness, but on a closer listen, it seems as if the entire CD carries an undertone of hopelessness. The anti-political songs, the murder of two little girls, the feelings of loss, and the emotions of powerlessness all come through very strongly and whether this was Everclear's intention or not, I don't know. But I do know that despite the heavier side of this CD, it has turned out to be a great recording, and another thumb's up for Everclear. If you were a fan of their musically lighter albums such as Learning How to Smile or So Much for the Afterglow, this is definitely an album for you. Other fans of their earlier albums, World of Noise and Sparkle and Fade, might not appreciate this one so much, but should still give it a listen.
Everclear's evolving sound seems to have led them to bigger and better places throughout their time together, and as this appears to be their last CD together as a band, Everclear has had a very successful music career, and is certainly going out on a good note.

Not bad
'Slow Motion Daydream' feels like a synthesis of previous Everclear styles, but in a really predictable kind of way. These songs are basically standard Everclear, although they're pretty good essentially. 'Blackjack' coasts along on a silly hard-rock riff which is enjoyable especially when coupled with a strong melody and some possibly political lyrics ('Please don't say that this isn't what you wanted now/this is your American dream/where everything is simple in the white and the black...be careful what you ask for'). 'Volvo Driving Soccer Mom', in the same vein as 'Rock Star', is disposable but amusing, again saved by some incisive lyrics, and 'A Beautiful Life' is really beautiful and aching but essentially a slower re-write of 'Song From An American Movie Pt 2' with strings - still, its excellent, if nothing new. 'Crysanthemum' is nice, with the same sad folky feel as songs like 'Thrift Store Chair', but too short. 'The New York Times' is a well-meaning tribute to 9-11 but comes across a little too much as bleeding-heart soft-rock.

I am an atypical Everclear fan - I think both volumes of the Songs From An American Movie are excellent, a career pinnacle even - not because I'm ignorant of their past - 'Sparkle and Fade' is an enjoyable album - but because although it is commercial, Learning How To Smile is classic pop perfection, whereas Good Time For A Bad Attitude is really well-done rock as well. On 'Slow Motion Daydream' you don't get anything as biting as 'When It All Goes Wrong Again' nor anything as sweet as 'Otis Redding' - it feels like a somewhat unhappy compromise between the two albums - certainly not a return to their earlier sound - this is a commercial album. They need a new direction, really, otherwise it sounds a bit formulaic. Some good songs, but not an incredible album by any stretch of the imagination.
With the market for modern angst having been sold short by headline writers and color-coded terror-alert designers, what's a '90s-grunge-rooted rock band to do? In the case of Art Alexakis and Everclear, you bare your soul with a smile. On the evidence here, the melodic '70s pop affectations of his divorce-chronicling Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1 seem to have permanently seeped into Everclear's sound. But they're considerably beefier than the album's straightforward production, wrapping dry observations about American life in bouncy, driving slices of pop-punk that are as infectious as they are wryly disconcerting. Tracks like the album's first single, "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom," and the spirited "How to Win Friends and Influence People" suggest that pervasive rumors of irony's demise have been overstated--or simply ignored--by a gleeful Alexakis and company. If it's an album that also argues that the band is working from formula, it's one they'd be wise to patent. Enhanced CD features include Web keys to performance footage, home movies, and B-side downloads. --Jerry McCulley