This Review Is Almost As Long As The Album Itself, But Not As Good
Posted July 04, 2008
By ringbearer3,
To me, Relient K can do no wrong. When I walked into Wal-Mart and found the CD, I didn’t think at all that it was going to be a waste of money. I even paid for it myself (something I wasn’t going to do). But the shocker was that I was able to do something I'm not able to do with most albums I buy, something I wasn't even able to do with the last album I bought, Superchick's "Rock What You Got," which is half the running time of this album.
I listened to the whole thing without skipping or going back. That was a shocker.
The album kicks off with "Where Do I Go From Here," which sounds like a cheesy bluegrass song at first, but becomes a fast paced rock song. My only problem with it was the length, which I suppose can be justified by the fact that this is an "EP."
This leads into the first song from the album to be released on the band's Myspace, The Scene and Herd. It's a good song, but since I'd already worn it out on the Internet, it didn't seem as good when I listened to it on the album. But it is awesome.
At Least We Made It This Far is currently the most popular song from the album on iTunes, and I can't entirely see why, since it was not released as a single or anything. This is the first country-sounding song (especially when Matt Thiessen croons, "I'm so tired of the road, baby")and it was an aquired taste for me, but I learned to appreciate even this.
The songs don't get much better than the John Warne-penned and sang The Last, The Lost, The Least. Through the great vocals and the awesome drumming (Ethan Luck's really good), the song delivers a message about taking care of the less fortunate than us, since we are all created in the image of God.
The Lining is Silver is the other song available on Myspace, and for good reason. Even though the lyrics are basically "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with a lot more punch, it still comes out as a great rock song that makes you want to pump your fists in the air, especially during the chorus, and not a cheesy pop song, like, say, I don't know, Up and Up. (The original, not the one on this album.)
The next song is a reboot of "The Thief" from the Apathetic EP. I was curious to hear this new version after the original blew me away. And after listening to it, I concluded that it didn't really live up to the original, though it had a lyrics upgrade that made the message shine through better, and the significantly more Relient K-ish chorus (the original was actually by The Earthquakes, Matt T.'s other band).
No Reaction has been stuck in my head for four days now, and I can't stop putting it on repeat. Ethan Luck proves he's both a great drummer (how about drummist?) and songwriter with his song that, to me, basically says that he's in the band to spice things up. That theory becomes credible when he throws some reggae into the mix.
With Curl Up and Die, Relient K has perfected the genre of Christian Emo music. It is an acoustic-leaning track with - is that violins I hear? - in the song that has Matt Thiessen proclaiming "I'll curl up with you, my baby and my darling, until I die with you."
You'll Always Be My Best Friend is Matt Hoopes's creation, a short, upbeat song that professes Matt's friendship with... Matt, since the two are the only two people remaining from the early days.
There Was Another Time In My Life is a artsy song in which Matt T. muses about his life before he knew God.
Beaming is another upbeat, one minute long ditty about Star Trek and coffee. Turns out Relient K is returning to its roots of pop-culture references with this song. The impossible, yet best-case scenario is that it would be featured on the new ST movie's soundtrack, but that's obviously not gonna happen. Just wait for 2009, and then we'll see.
The album starts winding down with I Just Want You To Know, another obviously Christian song, with such lyrics as "There was a man who lived one day with holes in his hands, as some do say". Its message hearkens back to that of "From End To End" of Two Lefts. Only this one is a lot more happy than that song, and doesn't rock as hard musically.
Bee Your man is a purely country song written by Jon Shneck, and it's one of the funniest songs Relient K has ever produced, with it's claim that the five great things about America (count em, five) are "Freedom, Justice, America, and Taco Bell." After that, there's bee sounds, someone gets stung, and some bees (presumably the band on helium - a lot of helium) announce the end of The Nashville Tennis EP and the beginning of the Bird and the Bee Sides.
Up and Up kicks this half off with an acoustic version that is perfect for the middle of an album, and is a good way to start off the goldmine of old songs. By the way, this is the second youngest rarity on the album.
Old song time.
I've only heard bits and pieces of most of these songs, and otherwise it would have spoiled listening to this album. It starts with a cut from the "Employee of the Month EP", Wit's All Been Done Before, which proclaims that "We're all getting tired of the media, 'cause creating something new is just recycling." Apparently they didn't take that into account when writing something like "Must Have Done Something Right," though theit is a great song.
Then the extremely hard to find "The Vinyl Countdown" kicks the second half of the album into gear, with its clever lyrics about how technology has brought about the death of vinyl records. This is even more true today then it was back then. This song (and vinyl record with the same title) isn't too old, since it was released before MMHMM and after Two Lefts.
For The Band is another Employee EP track, that really serves as a great comparison between Matt Thiessen's current songwriting ability and the old days. The song is still good, but the writing is really different.
Then the hardest-rocking song on all 26 tracks, "(We're) Nothing Without You," blares its way into the album, with its gritty vocals (Which To Bury-esque, especially during the pre-chorus) and openly Christian lyrics (just look at the title). I have this song on repeat all the time on my iPod. In fact, just 2 days ago, I was barely able to keep from air-guitaring in Home Depot listening to it.
The smile-inducing "A Penny Loafer Saved, A Penny Loafer Earned" is a pretty random track, but has a poppy, head-bobbing beat as Matt Thiessen rips on the concept of penny loafers and pays tribute to his number one inspiration, the Beach Boys, with mentions of "good, good, good, vibrations".
The FIF twins, as I like to call them, are both really, REALLY short songs that bid adieu (I probably spelled that wrong) to Five Iron Frenzy. One of them encourages whoever sees them to "thank them for being so cool and so awesome... look at their teeth and then tell them to floss them", while the Wannabe Ska version encourages them to "taunt them until they get angry and bite you, and go get yourself a tetnus shot." Both are very fun to listen to.
The acoustic version of Who I Am Hates Who I've been is unique and great, in my opinion. It gave me newfound respect for the original, since I had tired of it from listening to it so much.
The first demo is an unreleased rock song called "Here I Go". It sounds like it would have cozily fit into the last few tracks of Five Score.
The second unreleased one is a "Thief"-esque song called "The Stenographer", whose opening notes sound a lot like "Plead the Fifth". As the title suggests, it's about court. It also has one of the best puns on the album, "Smith N. Wesson Jr. was the son of a gun," followed by two more. Look it up if you don't get it.
The Creepy EP demo was an early version of "Jefferson Aeroplane" from Two Lefts, and this old version is great, even if the sound quality is a bit compromised.
The youngest song on this side of the album is a "B-side of a b-side" (of sorts), since this is an acoustic version of a Five Score B-side that deserved to be on the album greatly. I personally prefer the original "Hope For Every Fallen Man," but this one is almost as good.
This album was one of the best Relient K projects ever (Two Lefts and MMHMM are still fighting for my favorite). Go and buy this album right now. You won't be disappointed. View All Music And Book Reviews By ringbearer3 | View ringbearer3's Profile
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