Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Belt
2. Woe
3. The Writhing South
4. Alive With The Glory Of Love
5. Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat
6. The Futile
7. Spidersong
8. An Orgy Of Critics
9. Every Man Has A Molly
10. Slowly, Through A Vector
11. Chia-Like, I Shall Grow
12. I Want To Know Your Plans
13. Admit It!!!

Disc 2:

1. Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too
2. Little Girls
3. Most Beautiful Plague
4. It's A Metaphor, Fool
5. Total Revenge
6. Metal Now
7. I Will Never Write An Obligatory Song About Being On The Road And Missing Someone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10454 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Explicit Lyrics, Import

Album Description
This version contains a bonus disc with seven unreleased tracks.

Amazon.com
Originally released in 2004 on a small So-Cal indie label, Say Anything's ...Is A Real Boy has stood the test of time thanks to its universal themes and whopper punk hooks. Emo in name only, it is a disc that veers far away from the genre's typical navel-gazing lyrics and shines its light on the trappings of rock stardom, taking on everything from groupies to music snobs in no-nonsense songs like "An Orgy of Critics" and "Every Man Has A Molly." Max Bemis may not be a great singer but he's a great frontman, channeling his well-publicized struggles with bipolar disorder into songs that ring with defiance. This package includes a bonus second disc that includes seven new Say Anything tracks, a number of which delve even deeper into Bemis' psychiatric troubles, plus the somewhat self-explanatory "I Will Never Write An Obligatory Song About Being On The Road And Missing Someone." --Aidin Vaziri

Customer Reviews

Excellence for your ears
After hearing one of their songs, I bought this CD duo - and after the first listen only one other song had caught my attention, but after a day or two in and out of the car.... I love this whole CD! Max's voice and lyrics combined are truly amazing and captivating.

Tracks I can't not mention:
Disc 1
1. Belt
4. Alive with the Glory of Love
5. Yellow Cat/Red Cat
7. Spidersong
9. Every Man Has a Molly
10. Slowly, through a vector
Also, on Disc 2 #1 Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too

If indie meets emo with a little edge and great lyrics is your kind of music... you won't regret getting into Say Anything!

Their Best Overall Album
if you are new to this band and wondering where to start, look no further. this double disc effort was a breath of fresh air in a genre that has been getting worse and worse. call it emo or punk or pop but this is good music. the only song i didnt care for was the most beautiful plague. other than that every song is different and really well done. highlights include: wow, i can get sexual too, belt, total revenge, and woe. this is the best say anything cd by far.

A very interesting CD
Is a Real Boy is a great CD and a great start for a very interesting band. The lead singer, Max Bemis, faces a lifelong battle with bipolar disorder. He spent most of his high school and college career doing drugs to combat his lows from bipolar disorder. Before this CD was completed he committed himself to theraputic help after spending an amount of time in a paranoid depression. This took place shortly before the release of this CD. Throughout this CD, (as the booklet describes) Max tells it all exactly as he sees it and his thoughts and feelings all went into these songs and lyrics and sure enough, this is an excellent CD lyrically, providing great insight into a person who was going through a very hard time as he recorded this. It also helps that he delivers his lyrics with such conviction and such emotion and wit that he's easily one of the best and most interesting singers/songwriters in rock music today.

The songs on here go from songs about love to songs about how hypocritical society is, and even child abuse and songs dealing with drugs and lonliness. Really interesting stuff, and it's these concepts and ideas, as well as the melodic moments and an overall indie punk rock sound, that make this such an enjoyable CD. It was definitely not created with the mass market in mind; some of these songs are unapproachable unless you know what to expect, and some songs don't really become "Good" until you hear the whole thing. Songs like Woe start out being a little weird but by the end, enter a melodic and meaningful zone and finish on a great note. Other songs like Belt may seem a bit weird at first due to the subject matter but they turn out to be fast, almost punk sounding songs that are just fun to listen to. It's a CD where you're never sure what's going to happen next, and it's one that I'll keep listening to for a long time.

The CD isn't perfect. Sometimes the themes in these songs and lyrics (some of which obviously written under the influence of drugs) are so tangled and hard to decode for possibly anyone but Max himself. Others are a little on the slow side or come off as being a bit whiny, (The Futile, Every Man has a Molly, and Slowly Through a Vector).

Some flaws aside, it's a great and dark CD. While it's not as good as the band's sophmore effort and masterpiece, In Defense of the Genre, it's a great CD for new fans to the band to check out before diving into that 2-disc monster.

Is a Real Boy also comes with a second CD, recorded after Max began treatment and sobered up, (called "Was a Real Boy," ) which features additional tracks. The feel to this CD's vastly different, some songs verge on acoustic, and the themes here are less dark than on the CD. Not to say they're devoid of darkness (Little Girls, for example) but others here, like Total Revenge, get rid of the "edge" entirely and are actually kind of gentle and sweet. Admittedly, this second disc isn't particularly great on its own, (several songs on here seem fairly aimless,) but it does provide an interesting listen and sense of closure to the "life story" told on disc 1. It's a solid "add-on" to the CD.

Overall, it was a very promising start for this band and I hope they get bigger and find more fame down the road because this is a very talented band and they're unlike any rock music I've ever heard.