Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now review
Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now
Louder Now: B+
Where You Want To Be: A-
Tell All Your Friends: A
When a band that has had moderate success without major label backing, acquires a rabid fan-base, and then puts out their first album with a major label, everyone holds their breath. A lot of times this is the kiss of death for a band, perhaps not in terms of success but losing their loyal fan base. When a band gets mainstream success and puts out one album that flops commercially, it means those fans that “liked” them for that one album have already moved on to something else that caught their ear on the radio. For their once-dedicated fans that feel the band turned their back on them, this is sweet vindication. Without fans, the band fails.
It’s happened once and it’ll happen over and over again. So how did Taking Back Sunday walk this thin thin line between artistic integrity, growth, and the push to fit into the mold of the mainstream? For me personally, they did a fine job, one that will no doubt draw in new fans who have no idea what their past music sounds like, but will also retain the majority of their already established fans.
Granted, the album is far more polished than their previous work, their incredible hype-inducing debut, “Tell All Your Friends”, and their follow-up success after their losing two members to Straylight Run, “Where You Want To Be.” This serves to be a blessing for an album that is primarily a good sounding and thoroughly entertaining record, rather than an essential one.
It seems that a small portion of lyrical quality and clever ingenuity was lost after the departure of John Nolan, whose life was an inspiration to many of the classics found on their debut. The lyrics are still in a high echelon when measured against their counterparts.
Unsurprisingly, this is their most diversified effort, which is at times a good thing, such as the case with “Error:Operator”. However, this “experimentation” fails miserably on their xylophone-laced, ill-fated “Divine Intervention,” which goes to prove why a old school guitar ballad like “New American Classic” works so much better, without inducing a vomitous reaction with this contrived and over-produced piece of garbage.
The first single, “MakeDamnSure” is the stalker anthem of the summer, and to my surprise, is one of the least radio-friendly songs on the album, despite the fact you can barely tell it’s TBS based on the first verse.
Adam Lazzara’s vocal delivery is another aspect that is much more varied, giving a feeling of a “Timberwolves in New Jersey” vibe on a majority of the tracks. On songs like “Twenty-Twenty Surgery,” one of the standout tracks, this works better than it should. On others like “Miami,” whose chorus makes it so it should have stayed on the cutting room floor, not so much.
Where the album really works best is when they hit you with work that sounds like it could have been on older TBS albums, such as their straight-forward rocker “Spin,” featuring the back and forth vocal delivery that is really TBS’s bread and butter.
This isn’t to say they shouldn’t try new things, but their old style should be foremost with these nice little new tracks taking lower-priority. This is one of the primary reasons why songs like “Blue Channel” and “Timberwolves” worked so well in the past. However, they shouldn’t be center-stage above classics like “Cute without the E” or “There’s No I in Team.”
Overall though, this is a very strong piece of work, one that never fails in it’s pure ability to entertain. In a few small ways, it may be considered their best album. On the other hand, in many ways, especially in terms of connecting on any sort of real emotional connection, it is their worst.
It does little to hold a candle to their the raw, real debut, “Tell All Your Friends,” which is one of the best albums in the genre. The brilliant condescension and energy of that work, and to a slightly lesser extent “Where You Want to Be”, is not entirely lost, but is all but over shadowed by an attempt to sound cool.
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Admittedly, I have heard very little of this CD, but TBS is one of the few bands rivaling Hawthorne Heights for WORST BAND EVER!
justincharlesharlan on May 1st, 2006 9:35 pm
Tsk tsk tsk Justin, that’s just not fair.
Taking Back Sunday was completely original when they released “Tell All Your Friends” and was a major inspiration to 90% of the “emo” bands out there. Tell All Your Friends was a very good album no matter how you look at it. Calling them the “Worst Band Ever” isn’t fair. Sure, now they sound like everyone else, but that’s because everyone ripped off them.
Hawthorne Heights on the other hand is a complete rip off of Thursday, which like TBS was revolutionary in the genre. They are completely unoriginal. But you can’t say that about TBS.
Chris Fehnel on May 2nd, 2006 10:11 am
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I liked your review. I agree with you about the lyrics in Miami, but it does have that one ripping solo. I think the album is way different from the other two. It’s really grows on you after a while. Songs I didn’t like at first have grown on me.
BTW, Hawthorne Heights are ok, it is usually good music for pissing people off.
Thomas Swift on May 5th, 2006 12:26 am
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recently i went to TBs’s concert, and it was amazing, even better live. If i ever meet justincharlesharlan ( the wanker above) im going to beat the living shit out of him on behalf of all people that notice talent when they hear it. TBS is totaly original and inspirational.
jack hayden on May 6th, 2006 2:38 pm
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Hey I just wanted to say that after listening through the CD today i was a little disapointed. My best friend’s older sister actually went to high school with Adam Lazzara and I have always been a huge fan. However I completely agree that this CD did not touch me on the emotional level that their other CD’s have and I don’t think the lyrics are as good as the last 2 albums (especcially Tell All Your Friends.) That said I still think that they are a great band and I will always support them.
P.S. Hawthorne Heights can’t even compare to TBS
Lohr Beck on May 8th, 2006 2:43 pm
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After reading a completely ignorant comment from justincharlesharlan you have to ask yourself what bands does he admire, or does he even hold any credibility whatsoever after admitting he didnt even listen to the CD? I’ll admit Hawthorne Heights lost its appeal to me after changing band names and changing musical style, but to categorize TBS and HH in the same category shows 1 of 2 things…Very little knowledge about music, or a terribly disgusting taste in music. Enjoy listening to Slipknot and ICP Justin.
Jay-Dubb on May 10th, 2006 10:51 am
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Admittedly, I have heard very little of this CD, but TBS is one of the few bands rivaling Hawthorne Heights for WORST BAND EVER!
justincharlesharlan on May 1st, 2006 9:35 pm
The fact that you mentioned the phrase “worst band ever” and didnt follow it with “nickelback” is why you are definately discredited as someone with the least bit of common sense.
bmxfelon420 on May 11th, 2006 7:38 pm
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The fact that “artistic integrity” and “Taking Back Sunday” were used in the same sentence makes me sick. The fact that Jack Hayden (above) said that TBS has “talent” makes me sicker. But then again, people who have a musical memory that only reaches back to the days of pop-punk’s popularity shouldn’t be expected to know what the word “talent” means, or know what “artistic integrity” is.
“Worst Band Ever” is beyond an understatement. To say that they are singlehandedly responsible for the degradation of guitar music as we know it, however, seems a bit more accurate. 4/4 and pop-punk chord changes is not talent. It’s mimicry.
Has anyone heard of Yes, who elevated rock music to an art form? What about Led Zeppelin or Hendrix?
And just to let you know, i am at this very moment in Adam Lazzara’s living room, typing this.
Mike Calabrese on May 20th, 2006 12:44 pm
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kid above this……if your into the old rock genre then comment on that, if this isnt your intrest why waste your time?? this was a great review, but this album by far didnt meet my expectations, i still vote where you want to be, thier best this far
Grey on May 22nd, 2006 9:04 pm
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TBS’s first two albums we’re great. I wouldn’t hype them up to the level that some do (including this review). But they were solid, catchy, listenable albums, with definitely some innovation with vocal melodies, and a much more solid for-the-lack-of-a-better-genre-word “emo” sound than most “emo” bands had at that time. TBS was really trying to be an original statute of music that alt/rock/screamo/emo should be at. They can easily be discarded as a “whiny, sold-out, etc” band, but truly, in comparison to most bands of their style in that time frame, they truly stand out. Sure there were a few bands that I would say trump TBS by a long shot, but they are nowhere near being the “worst band ever”.
The only thing with Louder Now, is that it feels over-produced, and that the *dual vocal* rounds/echos are gone, its almost always one vocalist at a time now, and to me the dual vocals was a huge part of their originality, and it seems that they are losing a bit of touch with their past on Louder Now, given that, it still is not a bad album, it just doesn’t hold a candle to their previous releases.
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@Mike
It should have been expected that (as it should be on modern music reviews) someone would throw old/classic rock card. Granted, Led Zep and Hendrix we’re extremely talented musicians.
Just because a band these days doesn’t always have the exact level of musicianship that your elitist nothing-new-is-good attitude demands, doesnt demean the band down to the unlistenable level you attempt to force them to.
You might as well throw that comment on every review on music that doesnt date back 20 years.
Brandon A. on May 26th, 2006 12:55 am
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Well….I’m a fan of the emo, metal (not so much metal), and old classical rock genres. I have to say that TBS is a very skilled band and they are good at what they do. Although this CD isn’t their best work, songs like MakeDamnSure and Error: Operator are gonna be classics among the emo genre. They know how to write music, even though they’re not as good without their former guitarist John Nolan. For Mike Calabrese up there, or whatever, you need to realize that there is not only just one genre of rock. There are several, and just because a guitar solo doesn’t break out every minute in the song there are very catchy, memorable parts to the songs that make the genre. Sure there aren’t any insane guitar riffs, or complicated solos, but what would rock be without variety. Emo/Punk/and all other alternative genres are highly underestimated and people need to realize that just like the glam metal scene in the 70’s and 80’s and the grunge in the 90’s this WILL go down in history as a very influential part of rock history. For all of you hating on TBS, get a life and realize that you’re narrow minded and you need to stop judging bands that aren’t UP to your “supposedly” great outlook on music.
JS on December 28th, 2006 1:27 am
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this kid (who commented below me) is a fucking idiot. If you don’t like the genre of music don’t call it bad. I don’t like country, that doesn’t mean Kenmy Chesney is horrible.
Kevin on May 16th, 2007 12:40 am