Saves the Day - In Reverie

I'm serious this time! I'm gonna start posting again, like, every day. I think it would help if I shortened up my posts, just throw out a couple descriptions and some quick musings. It's gonna be hard not to rant about this one though...

Today's album: Saves the Day - In Reverie (DreamWorks 2003)
Genre: Pop-punk, Rock
Running time: 12 tracks, 33:58
In a nutshell: Underrated, mellow/dreamy emo

1. Anywhere With You
2. What Went Wrong
3. Driving In The Dark
4. Rise
5. In Reverie
6. Morning In The Moonlight
7. Monkey
8. In My Waking Life
9. She
10. Where Are You
11. Wednesday the Third
12. Tomorrow Too Late

I want to know why everyone hates In Reverie so much. It seems to me that it was just about the only truly original music Saves the Day ever produced. The melodies are much more complex, the songwriting is more mature (for the most part), and the vocals are entirely unique. To this day I haven't heard anyone reproduce that "ham-sandwhich", mellow vocal tone in quite the same way.

It seems to me that most people just wanted another Stay What You Are, which is why it seemed like such a let-down. Personally, I first picked up In Reverie right when I was growing out of pop-punk, and it really felt like the band was growing up with me. It's too bad they didn't keep innovating; trying to re-create SWYA is what has made all subsequent albums total garbage. I guess once you've grown up, you can't go back, which is why this is the only Saves the Day album I can really stomach nowadays.