MLT confirmed what I've always figured about Thiessen: he's semi-retired, living a chill life while occasionally playing shows for fun.
Five Score has matt's best all time clever lyric which is I'm sweeping up the seconds that tick off the clock And saving them for later when I'm too ticked to talk
I’ve always loved that one and that song. I feel like I need to make a top 10 list because Matt has some incredibly clever lines
Five Score is the record that hooked me in and remains my favorite so I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear or read what they said about it lol
I rate Forget And Not Slow Down and mmhmm above Five Score but I’d probably have that joint third with Air For Free.
I used to be a big fan of “Faking My Own Suicide” after a I had a really bad breakup. Listening to it recently, it was a big “Yikes!”
It is a truly fascinating record, in that I can't think of another where I think the opening and closing tracks are classics but don't like the rest (though I do have a soft spot for the live version of "Boomerang").
Relient K really are one of those bands that had a dynasty run there. mmhmm, Five Score and Forget and Not Slow Down as a trilogy is insanely impressive. Not many bands are capable of three album run like that. So even though their lack of activity over the last ten years pains me as a fan, if they never do anything else again, they've got that trilogy, not to mention all the other great stuff scattered through their discography.
I didn't like Five Score at all. FANSD was one I enjoyed, but I lost motivation to follow much past that. I don't know, the nostalgia for Anatomy, Two Lefts, and mmhmm is still strong, but Five Score felt bland (and I bought it day one).
I agree with where you're coming from...but at the same time there are some great songs on Five Score and the production is massive/amazing sounding. However, I feel like Howard Benson sucked the life out of the band to make those songs. And you can really feel the difference when the life/energy comes back with Deathbed (Mark Lee Townsend).
I think it's a Howard Benson problem. Doing a quick scroll through his production credits, I didn't see any albums I like. I dislike Mae's Singularity for a lot of the same reasons I dislike Five Score. His style just sucks the individuality out of the bands and makes everything sound like the same generic radio friendly slop.
Less Than Jake did not like working with him in 2006 for In With the Out Crowd, iirc. You can hear the same issue on it...lifeless.
Listening to Collapsible Lung again right now. Don't Blink and Collapsible Lung are the only songs I generally return to, and I think they're both in the upper tier of RK tracks. I also think PTL could be a really nice song if it the production was different. It sounds so fake and tinny. But I think the song itself is solid. Edit: Also I can make it through Can't Complain, but I can't do Gloria.