The Maine - You Are Ok (March 29, 2019) Album • Page 50

LLL
Pioneer
American Candy
You are OK
Forever Halloween
Black and White
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

 

See, in my eyes, those albums were where they finally shed this idea that they needed to be a certain kind of band to be popular. I really felt that starting with Pioneer, the band started writing way more for themselves and the songwriting gained a depth that it didn't have before then. I love AC and LLL for reimagining the hookier writing from their earlier work, but FH and Pioneer will always be just that huge turning point in the band for me. I also think those records are still massively catchy, just in more interesting ways. Plus, what they did give up in hooks they more than made up for with new and interesting ideas, especially on FH (Deluxe). B&W and CSWS are fun on the surface but I never feel there's much to dig into underneath.

 

YAOK
LLL
B&W
P
AC
CSWS
FH

 

I love this. It's also interesting because to me, this shift into being the band they wanted vs. the band they were expected to be started with B&W. That was where I started taking them seriously. I definitely see what you're saying here though. I gotta give FH and Pioneer another chance.

 

LLL
AC
P
CSWS
B&W
YAOK
FH

 

LLL
YAO
CSWS
AC
B&W
Pioneer
FH

 

LLL
AC
YAO
Pioneer
FH
CSWS
B&W

 

LLL
AC/CSWS
YAOK
B/W
Pioneer/FH

 

Thanks! B&W was definitely the beginning but for me, everything they tried there was hampered by some bad habits from the earlier era (it's actually my least favorite record from them because of how transitional it is). Pioneer feels like the realization of the ideas that started on B&W, while FH (Deluxe) takes it even further, into weird and new territory.

 

You Are OK
American Candy
LLL
Pioneer
Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Forever Halloween
Black and White

 

LLL
You are OK
American Candy
Cant Stop Wont Stop
Pioneer
Black and White
FH

 

I definitely agree with B&W feeling like a transition into a different kind of sound for them, but one they hesitated to commit to fully until Pioneer. Pioneer is a very special album in my eyes

 

Pioneer/Lovely Little Lonely
You Are Ok
Forever Halloween
American Candy
Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Black & White

I can't pick between those top two

 

Seriously, I'm sad to see it.

 

American Candy is no holds barred my favorite but I also don't think it's their best album, if that makes sense. (I personally think that's LLL - again, acknowledging that "best" is super subjective.)

I just... really bonded with AC. Right place right time in my life.

And as I said, I never really gave Pioneer or FH a chance and I really couldn't tell you why. I fell off on this band during those years I think? And when AC came out I just never went back to explore. Definitely want to give those records a shot though and it's kinda weird that I've never felt compelled to considering how much I love this band.

 

It's kinda funny, this whole conversation is making me realize how many people really noticed that they were becoming a band to watch around the AC/LLL era. I had that moment with Pioneer, so maybe that's it? I thought more people took notice of that record at the time but maybe that's not the case.

Not to play down thoughtful opinions like Craig's, I just hadn't thought of people not really jumping back on until AC or LLL.

 

The funny part is, I don't even recall thinking they were a band to watch or anything like that at that point. It's more like I straight up didn't notice FH or Pioneer came out and when I put on AC finally I was stunned it was the same band with the swoop bangs from CSWS. Just kinda checked out for awhile there... Good times. I'm glad I came back around for obvious reasons.

 

those swoop bangs were killer tho

 

I was never a fan of The Maine until I heard Pioneer and was blown away. I was a big fan during that era and FH era but my love for the band has dropped off since. I still enjoy AC and OK but it’s not the same for me? Idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

this kinda makes sense based on the rest of the conversations in here. those two albums exist in a very specific space for the maine. I don't think there's anything wrong with preferring it if that's what speaks to you from their catalogue

 

I definitely don't dislike those two albums, but I remember thinking back in 2009/2010 that The Maine were one of the few bands of their era that really knew how to write great pop songs. When Pioneer came out, it kind of caught me off guard. It was a pretty sizable shift in sound/approach and I felt like they'd kind of abandoned what I liked about them. (That album also came out really late in the year, so I think I gave it less of a chance than I would have if it came out in, say, July.)

That album and Forever Halloween make a lot more sense to me after the band's last three albums, but to me, those are the transitional albums. They're building a base of the kind of darker, more substantive songwriting the band would perfect (IMO) with American Candy and Lovely Little Lonely. But I remember hearing American Candy and being like "Ok, they're bringing back some of that 'pop band' energy of their first two albums," and being excited about that.

I should give Pioneer and Halloween a revisit, though; it's been awhile. Maybe I'm due for a full discography run before the new album comes out.

 

The Maine are probably the best band to come from that 2006-2008 neon era by far. Even going back and listening to CSWS, it hasn't aged anywhere near as poorly as so many of their contemporaries' debut albums have.

 

I enjoy some of the stuff on CSWS over some of their more modern stuff lmao

 

We All Roll Along might legitimately be my most played song of all time.

Obviously most of that was from 2008 but still

 

We'll All Be... is still one of the best end of summer jams all these years later