Tell All Your Friends

by

Taking Back Sunday

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As another reviewer said, this is a masterpiece. This is surely the most satisfying album since Weezer's 'Blue Album' in 1994, and, like the Blue Album, I've played this CD over and over (seemingly ad infinitum) and am still not tired of it. Taking Back Sunday took the emo-punk stylings that had been developing (with bands like Thursday and At the Drive-In) and perfected it. Ever since this album, emo has dominated the rock scene (with many bands imitating Taking Back Sunday and Thursday) in much the same way that Nirvana and Pearl Jam led the grunge revolution in the early '90's. The dual vocals, twin-attack guitars, stop-break rhythms, occasional screams, and, of course, emotional lyrics and singing are the signature features of this style of rock. Either you like it or hate it (so it seems). If you don't like it, surely you have better things to do than going around and bashing emo bands on Amazon (and typically promoting death metal bands).

A side note: For those who don't know, this is TBS's first (and best) album and features the original TBS line-up. A couple members (due to creative differences) left the band and have created another band, Straylight Run, who have a softer, piano-based style. Straylight Run is also an incredible band.

these guys seem to be one of those "you'll absolutely love them" or "you'll absolutely hate them" bands. when i first heard taking back sunday, i fell into the latter category. i thought they were just basically saves the day part 2 (back when saves the day were still good). the whole nu-screamo (tbs, finch, the used, thursday, every "emo" band on victory nowadays) thing hadn't really started taking off yet, and i liked thursday, so the overall sound isn't what initially turned me off to them. it was the fact that i thought that they were extremely derivative and sounded like just about everybody else. i still feel that way. however, taking back sunday and i have had quite the love/hate relationship over the past year, since i got a burnt copy of "tell all your friends". the first thing i noticed was how amazing of a song "cute without the e" is. right there is perhaps the perfect example of the perfect pop song. not brainless, but simple and catchy enough to have mass appeal. there's a few other songs on this album that i genuinely thing stand out. "there's no i in team," "you're so last summer" and "great romances of the 20th century". otherwise, this album is frustratingly narrow-sighted. i imagine that, with 2 new band members, tbs will most likely go the route of bands such as saves the day and brand new, changing their sound by next album, and that's probably a very good idea. just a whole 10 songs of this is kind of overkill, not to mention the whole new generation of clone bands that have followed. it's not that taking back sunday don't have loads of potential, or that they are bad, they're just not quite as removed from their pop-punk roots as most of their fans would like to think. this isn't screamo, kids. it's not bad, but it's not screamo.