The Wonder Years - Sister Cities (April 6, 2018) Album • Page 62

Didn’t someone post a while back
That the official single release is the 5th? That’s looking more likely huh?

 

pffff that's the only day i don't predict it'll come out

 

I think when it's all said and done we'll realize that the single was actually the friends we made along the way

 

Taco Bell fries, they'll probably be gone next month anyway.
Me Vs the Highway is the best b-side, not the best song. That is The Devil in My Bloodstream. Which leads me to my next point: The Greatest Generation is head and shoulders above the rest for me. It's just a better executed/produced Suburbia, and NCTH is a regression from that sound.

 

i'm single

 

weirdly enough i agree with almost all of this

 

Why do you do this to yourself haha

 

everyone fills a role here

 

Should I be happy or upset about this

 

i can't tell you what to think or how to be this is on you to interpret this complicated situation

 

Yeah, single will be out the 5th for sure.

 

TGG > Suburbia > NCTH > Upsides

I loved Upsides in college, but can't make it all of the way through anymore. Still has some jams, Washington Square Park being my favorite TWY song.

 

In terms of an objective ranking, I'd have to go TGG > Suburbia > NCTH > Upsides

In terms of a subjective ranking, it'd be Suburbia > TGG > Upsides > NCTH

But I adore all of these records and whenever I start one I will listen to it in full almost every time. Also I have a feeling that Sister Cities will probably be their best album.

 

TGG is the most concise and holds up the best divorced of nostalgia--I think "There, There," "Dismantling Summer," "Devil In My Bloodstream," and "Funeral" are still high on the list of the band's best songs, and I wouldn't cut any tracks from it today, five years later, which I really can't say about any of the other records. I think it also has the strongest thesis as a record and makes the best case for why you should listen to it as a whole. It also has the best production, thanks largely to Trombino's mix. Suburbia is a close second, though like @US Camera said, I would definitely cut "Lord's Prayer" if I were releasing that album today. One of the album's strong points is showing you everything that went wrong with the town it's about, like the burned-down bowling alley in "Suburbia," the story of the brutalized homeless man in "I've Given You All," and the hole in the wall at the "Coffee Eyes" diner. I think there was an opportunity to make a similar point about how organized religion affected the town in "Lord's Prayer" by focusing more on the visual symbols, like the church with the neon "Jesus Saves" sign, but ultimately the song tells more than it shows and Dan's own condescension becomes the focal point for me. I think that song is only on that album because the Ginsberg reference was too good to pass up.

Upsides is flawed as hell but it'll always be my favorite because of the time and place it hit me. I left two very toxic friendships and a relationship at the end of the school year and found it at the start of summer. That record helped me work through a lot of growing pains and depression and listening to it always brings me back to the summer that I realized that friendship isn't inherently transactional.

 

Those of you who got the 7"... Where was it shipped from? I just received a shipping notification from USPS for something from New Jersey. Assuming it's my Brian Fallon pre-order, but still holding out hope that it's TWY related.

 

It was from Hopeless Records in California. Sorry to disappoint.

 

Listened to NCTH last night and it's more solid than I remember

It has some of their best work, some good TWY songs and some bad ones

I think the only songs I actively dislike are Patsy Cline, Palm Reader and NCTH

 

Bummer. At least I'll be getting Sleepwalkers early next week. Thanks for confirming!

 

I agree Suburbia and Greatest Generation are a lot more timeless than Upsides. If you're a fan removed from high school and college, a lot of tracks on The Upsides loses their relevancy. For someone who loved My Last Semester when the record came out and for a couple years down the road, listening to it now it's a little to on the nose.

For me the record is split pretty evenly between dated tracks and ones that still hold up. Semester, Dynamite Shovel, Logan Circle, Carl Weathers, This Party Sucks, and Hey Thanks usually get a skip from me when they show up on shuffle. Everything else though, (WSP, Hostels, Backpack, Melrose, and Bar Bands) I think holds up with the rest of their records.

 

The stretch in the middle from I Don't Like Who I Was Then to I Wanted So Badly to be Brave is so good. Thanks for the Ride is the only song I'll consider skipping from that group.

 

i think i'm at the point where Palm Reader is the only one i don't like. i think i've said this before but it feels like a bunch of good ideas cobbled together to me--like that chorus does not feel natural at all even after a bunch of listens.

 

I can see why people don't like Thanks For The Ride but the lyrics are good and the chorus is catchy at least

 

Upsides is still my favorite. I just think it has the catchiest/best songs. Sure, it’s less “mature”, but if I’m listening to a pop punk band that’s not exactly what I’m looking for anyway. I know this is a lot more than a pop punk band to a lot of people, and I agree with that to an extent. I think Suburbia and TGG are probably “better” and I still love both of them. But man, sometimes I just want catchy af pop punk songs and Upsides does that better than almost anything else.

 

Lord's Prayer is a post from r/atheism or r/samharris

 

I would really love it if someone explained to me how "I Won't Say The Lord's Prayer" is condescending in any way. I'm seriously asking.