Stumbled across this live performance of I Am Fred Astaire on Reddit from the 20th anniversary tour. A couple things: 1) It sounds really, really good. I wish they played this more often 2) Mark really goes for it in this performance 3) Props to the person off-camera singing the chorus in key https://www.reddit.com/r/takingbacksunday/s/JFrXTRsACU
this is a cool video and I'd love to see them play this song live, but it bothers me an unreasonable amount that Mark isn't playing that iconic verse beat the same way it is on the record.
I know I am probably very late to the party with this, but I have no one/no where else to talk about stuff like this. The 2002 Pre-Master version of TAYF is probably the best version of this album/these tracks, and I do not know how/why they managed to make them not as good on the final master/remastered copies. Aside from the missing piano intro to Blue Channel pretty much everything is there. Anyone else dig these? Has everyone heard them from years ago and I'm last man in on it?
Y’know, I don’t think I’ve listened to TAYF in years at this point? Just not the TBS album I’m typically gonna go to.
I was actually tempted to make a post last weekend but didn't want to double post. I decided to throw on TAYF during a jog and man, it's really just a damn good album, front to back. For me, it really has this first album try-whatever-nervous-energy that was lost as their career took off. I'm a huge fan of most of their albums, but it really is no wonder that so many people connected with TAYF and propelled them to scene royalty.
I know it’s an over used word, especially when describing first albums of punk/emo/alt bands that went more pop-y later on, but the energy on TAYF is just so so good. Everyone is going all out on their instruments and vocals, all the emotion is there, the lyrics capture every possible feeling about young love and friendships and how someone feels when they go wrong, etc. So many of those lyrics would come of cheesy if not sung the way they’re sung (or screamed) and with the melodies they used. Okay sure fine the lyrics are still cheesy in a lot of ways but it’s hard to pull off cheesy lyrics in a way that everyone wants to sing along to. Like, the whole bridge/outro of Blue Channel, those lyrics are cheesy but captures the feelings they’re trying to capture so well. And then having Adam go into the drawn out “promise me” while John flips the line a bit in the background “they don’t line MY mirror” with the venom in his voice saying it…just perfect.
The "proooomiiise meeee" always give me the chills. So many great parts like that on the album. I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but I much prefer the demo version of "Great Romances" to the finished version. The bells are better than the cheap orchestra synth pads or whatever they used, and the "beautiful girl" bit is iconic.
The hooks and energy of TAYF are mostly lightning-in-a-bottle great. But, there’s something about the sound that I’ve really lost interest in over the years. Something about the vocals and the, I guess, production. And, the lyrics are so squarely “teen boys’ feelings” in a way that I just don’t vibe with, lol. Everything I used to love about it is also true for WYWTB, but that one has a tone that works much better for me. The sound and general vibe are something I like spending time in much more, and while the lyrics and energy still feel youthful, it’s more so in a way that can translate to someone growing older and looking back (vs TAYF, which at times feels embarrassing like an old picture or journal entry).
Yeah, I can totally agree with this despite knowing every word and cherishing the album overall. It's definitely a tough sell to anyone who wasn't around those ages around those times (or maybe younguns can still connect with it?), but for those of us who were there at the time, it was spot on and spawned a million AIM away messages and Myspace themes. I do think a few of the songs hold up as more mature and have aged pretty well (You Know and Ghost Man) and I do still appreciate the dynamics through the record as a whole.
I’ll Find a Way To Make It What You Want is my favorite closer and one of my favorite TBS songs. I love that they resisted the urge to make the vocals big at the end and let them get drowned out by the instruments. Perfect for an album called “Tidal Wave”
Yeah, I totally get what you mean regarding the lyrics on TAYF. I actually feel the same way about Sum 41's All Killer No Filler, too. It's all very high school and while you can relate to those emotions in your teen years, it's hard to feel the same way when you're in your mid-twenties (in my case).
I ended up working it out and I'm sticking with Night 1. Are tickets sold out now? I checked a few days ago and it looked like they were still available.
I have nothing but positive things to say about TAYF, but WYWTB is better for me. Adam really became a frontman and Fred brought arena rock guitar to the table. I like Straylight Run more than TBS though.