Lights and Sounds

by

Yellowcard

Edit

I am doing my best not to compare Lights + Sounds to Ocean Avenue. Yellowcard does sound much broader on this release, and their musical styhle has grown beautifully. Not all of the songs have stuck to me on the first listen, but I'm sure it will grow on me.

But in a comment about the Editor's Note, Ocean Avenue was NOT Yellowcard's debut album. They've had three previously -- Where We Stand, The Underdog, and One for the Kids. The reason many may think Ocean Avenue was their first release is because that is the most well known. I would recommend checking out their other releases, as well.

Being a fan of the punk-pop scene, there are a ton of bands competing just to get mainstream and commercial success. Yellowcard entered the punk-pop scene when it was already saturated with many other established, commercial acts. Green Day, Blink-182, Simple Plan (by the time their OCEAN AVENUE album became popular), Good Charlotte, among others. Many chided Yellowcard while others applauded. Having not been an avid follower of Yellowcard, I expected just another pop-punk band looking for the mainstream success of Better, more established bands. Despite any odds that Yellowcard has had as a band, LIGHTS AND SOUNDS shows that the band has overcame those odds to make a truly credible rock album.

LIGHTS AND SOUNDS instantly grabs your attention because it starts with an instrumental track called "Three Flights Up". "Three Flights Up" features nice melodic piano lines which sound like "lights and sounds" coincidentally. It provides a nice atmosphere for the album to begin. In fact, the instrumental introduction is reminiscent on Coldplay's sound as well as the introduction on Coheed and Cambria's latest album where lush strings are used very effectively.

The momentum from the opening track continues on into the second track, "Lights And Sounds" which has a very punk feel. The biggest drawback to the song is that you feel that it is just a good punk song and not a very innovative one. The first song "Lights And Sounds" also showcases the major advantages of the entire album and that is the hooky nature of the album. There is always a hook that grasps the audience even if the songwriting grows dull (as it does on tracks "Sure Thing Falling", "Martin Sheen or JFK", and "Words, Hands, Hearts").

Other notable tracks from the album (there are more notable one than non-notable ones) are "City of Devils", "Rough Landing, Holly", "Two Weeks From Twenty", "Waiting Game", and "Space Travel". "City of Devils" shows some of the most mature writing of the album with very nice string arrangements supporting the guitars and etc... "Two Weeks From Twenty" uses very non-standard writing that makes this song very distinct from any others that Yellowcard has done. Other songs on LIGHTS AND SOUNDS such as "Down On My Head", "Grey", "How I Go", and "Holly Wood Died" aren't particular stand outs, but they aren't terrible either. They are average at the most.

Reading many reviews of this particular album, I am inclined to agree with what the reviews have stated as the score. This album is above average, yet it isn't quite an exceptional album say the likes of AMERICAN IDIOT by Green Day, BLINK-182 by Blink-182, or etc... 3.5 stars for a very good album by Yellowcard.