Five Score And Seven Years Ago is the fifth full-length album by the Christian rock band Relient K. It was released on March 6, 2007, and is the first full-length album by the band to feature bassist John Warne and guitarist Jon Schneck. It is also the first Relient K album released without longtime bassist Brian Pittman. Pittman did leave the band before the release of the album Mmhmm, but recorded most of tracks with the band.
According to lead singer, Matt Thiessen, the album was created with a "Five" theme, as it is their fifth album, and for the first time Relient K has five members on an album. The "Seven Years Ago" links with the fact that their first album was created seven years prior to the release of this album, making for five albums in seven years. It also ties in with the famous line, "Four score and seven years ago", delivered by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln is addressed in the first track, "Plead The Fifth". A poster advertising a concert for the band around the album's release depicted a cartoon Abraham Lincoln on it as well.
The cover of the album depicts the five band members staring up in the sky from a sidewalk, and they are all wearing parkas. Jon Schneck stands behind Matt Thiessen, so there are four shadows crossing the shadow of the curb, creating five in tally marks. Capitol Records released a promotional image about a month before the album's release, and the band's manager announced that it was not the album cover. The official cover was confirmed on the Gotee Records website. The promo image showed five sticks made into tally marks, with seven leaves either on the sticks, or falling off of them. This image was on the back of the promo insert that advertised the new Relient K fan club that came with the CD.
A special edition of Five Score And Seven Years Ago was also released, including a bonus DVD with roughly thirty minutes of acoustic performances shot in the Capitol A Studios and including track-to-track interviews with the band. Also included is a making-of feature on the "Must Have Done Something Right" music video as well as the video itself, which was directed by Marc Webb (who produced videos for My Chemical Romance and The All-American Rejects). The album's cover also came with a special slip-cover that outlined the band members in orange drawings.
Five Score And Seven Years Ago debuted at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 64,000 copies in its first week.
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0.
Up and Up (Acoustic Version) (Walmart exclusive bonus)
01.
Plead The Fifth
02.
Come Right Out And Say It
03.
I Need You
04.
The Best Thing
05.
Forgiven
06.
Must Have Done Something Right
07.
Give Until There's Nothing Left
08.
Devastation And Reform
09.
I'm Taking You With Me
10.
Faking My Own Suicide
11.
Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care
12.
Bite My Tongue
13.
Up And Up
14.
Deathbed (feat. Jon Foreman of Switchfoot)
28.
Sloop John B (iTunes exclusive bonus)
29.
Fallen Man (Acoustic Version) (Best Buy exclusive bonus)
30.
Devastation and Reform (Video)(Walmart exclusive bonus)
Nice rock cd| Posted January 03, 2008
Relient k suprise me again. A cd full of rock and funny lyrics! It never boreds me! If you are a really relient k fan.. you must have this cd!
Same old, same old| Posted December 15, 2007
Here we go again, with Relient K with its 5th full album. 5 already? Sounds kinda old and so does the album. Every song is good, average with good melody and beat. But the problem is there was no big hit. Nothing catchy. In Mhmmm, there was be my escape or who i am hates who i've been. Those were good songs.
But i have to give it them. I wanted to see them shine, give something new to the table but i guess we'll have to wait.
Relient k is an awesome, band but the album was ordinary. Good songs and all even deathbed was good, but ordinary.
Relient K| Posted December 04, 2007
This is the first album I have listened to by Relient K and it is decent. "Deathbed" is by far the best track on the album, in my opinion. "Give Until There's Nothing Left" and "Forgiven" are two more solid tracks. If you're a punk rock fan then you will probably enjoy "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" but if you are not a fan of punk then you probably shouldn't get it.
A Little Disappointed| Posted October 14, 2007
I've been a Relient K fan for awhile so as soon as their new album came out, I had to get it. As I listened to it, I realized that it wasn't the Relient K I used to love. Their sound had definitely changed and it didn't seem as light and fun as their first albums. The lyrics were just okay for me, I was disappointed that there were a lot of songs about relationships and not about God. 'I Need You' and 'Faking My Own Suicide' are two of my favorites on the album and of course the vocals are amazing. 'Deathbed' really made the album for me, the lyrics are amazing and great to play for a friend who's not a Christian and I love it when Jon Foreman sings at the end. I must say, it's a pretty well put together album and if you don't have it, you should probably get it.
Awesome CD, too bad I can't always relate| Posted September 11, 2007
I've gotta say that this is one of my favorite CDs. Not only is the beat great (that's just a plus), the lyrics are better. They talk on what really matters in life: relationships. Both with one another and with our Heavenly Father. And being very up-beat and positive in it's sound is the biggest catch that it had for me.
great pop punk| Posted September 08, 2007
A really great pop punk album! Its awesome to see Relient K having such success in the mainstream while remaining true to their Christian roots!
Awesome| Posted September 04, 2007
I feel that the writting took a view at the other side of love, most of the previous music looked at how love can hurt, in this album, it seems like the view is on the love of love....
Five Score| Posted August 25, 2007
This is one of my favorite CD's by Relient K. Along with "Two Lefts.." my favorite song is probably "Devastation and Reform".
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