by Dolan Murphy "D. Murphy" Bettendorf, IA USA Reviewed on July 28th, 2004
Fans have been waiting patiently for almost three years now for Taking Back Sunday's sophmore album. During that period the band has changed backup vocalist and bassist. This album is quite an improvement lyrically on Tell All Your Friends, probably due to the addition of Fred Mascherino to the band, who replaces John Nolan as the backup vocalist. But what Fred brings lyrically comes at a price: the harmonious one-two punches evident on Tell All Your Friends are now a thing of the past. Instead, each vocalist sings separate parts, rarely meeting in-between. Not to say this is a bad thing, but don't expect to hear tracks like Tell All Your Friends' "There's No 'I' In Team." Adam Lazzara's vocals, however, are as strong as ever. Now, on with the song-by-song breakdown: 1. Set Phasers To Stun Great song to start the album, extremely high energy. Good start for Fred here as well. 2. Bonus Mosh pt. II Interesting track, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the album. I think another upbeat track here would have fit more (Maybe The Union instead?). Still a good song. 3. A Decade Under The Influence The first single. Great lyrics on this one, "To hell with you and all your friends" is a great way to incorporate the previous album. Also great collaboration between Fred and Adam on this one. 4. This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) This was also released on the Spiderman II soundtrack. Good song, but the chorus is a bit repetitive by the end. 5. The Union Great punk song. Wonderful bridge and chorus. Very fast-paced and upbeat. I would have liked to see this at track 2 and bonus mosh here instead, however. 6. New American Classic Good acoustic ballad, again very well-written lyrics. Not my favorite, but I'm not a ballad kind of person. 7. I Am Fred Astaire My favorite on the album. This is a wonderful, catchy tune. The chorus makes the song in this case. 8. One-Eighty By Summer This song starts off a bit slow, but gradually builds into Adam half-screaming "Why can't you love?" I would think this will be the crowd pleaser to see live. Great vocals by Adam on this one. My second favorite. 9. Number Five With A Bullet Good song, it begins acoustic but then slowly adds percussion and backup vocals. 10. Little Devotional Great intro on this one, also good vocals here. 11. ...Slowdance On The Inside Awesome intro and lyrics. "Passed out in our school clothes so we'd wake up in our Sunday's best." Probably the best lyrics on the album. Overall, the album is a great contrast to Tell All Your Friends, and the band no longer relies on screaming vocals to end every song, which is always a good thing. The backup vocals work well, but Fred is definitely not John Nolan. If this album was only the first six songs, this would probably be a very poor review. But, the final five songs make this a must buy. 5/5
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