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)
Four and a Half Score| Posted August 20, 2007
"Five Score and Seven Years Ago", is Relient K at their finest. The cds acapella intro of "Plead the Fifth", sets the scene for the familiar lyrics about the ups and downs of life and life after death. The second track, "Come Right Out and Say It", does not dissapoint as it's filled with pop melodies and fast guitars. The tracks go along and don't dissapoint. Then comes "Crayon's Can Melt On Us", funny. Right after listening to it ten times to make sure I didn't miss anything, "Bite My Tongue", in my opinion, one of the best songs on the cd, plays. It rocks soft, and although that does not sound like a good review, it is. The frustrated lyrics match with Matt's frustrated voice. Just beautiful. Here's the end, "Deathbed", Relient K's try to a little rock opera is a perfect way to end this awesome cd.
Updated, change of heart| Posted August 10, 2007
At firstI was very disappointed with the latest release from a fun band that I have enjoyed for years.
After listening through a few more times Ive had a bit of a change of heart, while I'm not 100% in love with the disc I have come to like some of the songs a bit more.
I still stand my dislike of Fakeing My Own Suicide and Deathbed, as far as Pleading the Fith and Crayons, they are just those quirky llittle space wasters that have become a norm for this band.
IF your new to the band you'll like it and I encourage you to hunt for previous discs to se where this band came from.
Good with a couple of so so's| Posted August 02, 2007
Good album The first song is great accopello but too short and can't see any christain value but interesting view.
Crayons can melt for all I care is a waste of space on the CD be it only 10 seconds my kids found it funny though but after playing it 10 or so times they lost the humor factor.
Faking my own suicide is a definate don't like not much on suicide songs and don't need that kind of idea place in the kids heads!
All other songs are outstanding but some are Talking about a girl instead of religion I would prefer more religious lyrics in some spots.
the best| Posted July 26, 2007
i fell in love with this album as soon as i heard it. i dont know how to say it differently to the people that have already reviewed it. ill just say the Faking my own suicide is awesome as it is a love song about trickery. this album is to die for
awesome| Posted July 26, 2007
i really like this cd!
i was a little confused by faking my own suicide but after listening to the song a couple times through it makes more sense!
this is a great way to complement any ccm collection!
sad and sad but sometimes not| Posted July 26, 2007
This was a disappointing album to listen to, fun to buy, but so very disappointing. Relient K just loses their identity here, with their quirky style just disappearing. Now they are just another rock band out there. Each song in this album is overproduced and made simply to please the radio sound and that's it. It does still have deep songs and also good songs so it's not a complete failure. Not their best though.
Different, but awesome| Posted July 23, 2007
I love this album. It is different to the previous relient k on other cd's, but still has some of the same bouncy light-hearted songs, however i have to say the highlight of this album for me is deathbed. It is such an amazing song if you listen to the lyrics and connects with me personally, as to how much Christ loves us and he'll never leave us.
pretty good| Posted July 18, 2007
is it just me or does it seem like every cd relient k gets better and better. i need you, devestation and reform, and forgiven are all amazing songs.
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