Taking Back Sunday Band • Page 528

I like El Paso but the drum fill in the beginning always makes me chuckle because the drums sound SO bad

 

yea

 

Bend to Break is awesome and has that 2000s pop-punk energy that I like but IMO A Year and Change is better. It has a very appealing maturity to it while staying in Fred's sonic wheelhouse. Songs about unrealized expectations ("Never Wanted" is about his time off from music, when he had to work at a warehouse to support his family after Terrible Things flopped), bittersweet regret ("Right I Left" is about missing so much of his kids' childhood while he was out touring), and his complicated relationship with TBS ("Crooked Mile") and struggling to keep love alive in the face of mutual disappointment ("How Long Should I Wait?").

Honestly a beautiful and deeply honest album, I was sad it didn't get talked about more.


I'M NOT FRED

 

I always thought El Paso was them saying “let’s write a Brand Brand New song”

 

El Paso sounds more like a Nirvana homage to my ears, which foreshadows the grungier direction of some of Happiness Is.

 

I just remembered about this deep cut

I don't think they ever brought it back, even with John and Shaun's return?

 

They played it every night of the 10 year TAYF tour, actually. But it seems unlikely they would do it again.

 

It's kind of a "formulaic" song for that era of the band, but man it's so good, pretty much everything you could want out of a Taking Back Sunday song.

If anyone can recommend me bands other than TBS that sound like this, I'd love some recs, active or not. Something about this era/style of production is just so good to me.

 

Ballad of Sal is one of my favorites. they played it every night at the very first run of TAYF10 shows back in 2012 and i think broke it out a few times during the 2010 reunion shows.

 

It's funny how I absolutely have never listened to The Color Fred based on name alone. I can't explain that, as I was a huge TBS fan when he left. But thems the facts.

 

This all reminded me of Bonus Mosh Pt. 2. This song debuted on TV didn't it? I remember conflating that this was a demo in my mind.

Listening back, I'm surprised I liked it as much as I did.

 

I think Follow the Format was the demo

 

I always found Just Surrender’s first album to remind me of TBS.

 

I remember I hauled off and bought Breaking Pangaea just cause it was Fred and being surprised how much I didn't like it

 

June is another band, it may have even had the "recommended for fans of" sticker and I bought it and wasn't impressed

 

In 2003, I literally bought When Broken is Easily Fixed with no prior idea who they were other than the sticker on the CD said "For Fans of Taking Back Sunday"

 

Yeah, I remember June too. Bought that album as well, haha.

I always thought This Providence and Hidden in Plain View were two of the better bands around that era who had duel vocals and reminded me of early TBS.

 

Please tell me you have listened to Northstar.

Northstar was one of TBS's favorite bands around that time.

 

This is easily tops as far as me buying an album based on the sticker lol

 

Haha super on the same page

 

I bought sooooo many shitty albums based on the sticker on the front of the CDs back in 2002-2006ish.

(Silverstein, Northstar, HIPV, This Providence not included in above statement)

 

Northstar is one of the best bands that should have been much more massive than they ever got. Pollyanna is a masterpiece.

 

I know I've told this story (somewhere on this site) but one of my best impulse buys in 2002 was All-American Rejects s/t album at the Hot Topic register. No clue who it was, but it wasn't even in a CD case. It was $5 and was in a paper sleeve with no artwork or anything.

Also bought MCR's Bullets and Yellowcard's One for the Kids blindly without having any idea who they were.

Some of the blind purchases worked out.

 

That sticker also convinced me back then.