Back Home: "They don't know that what you love is ripped away..." Empty Street: "Bring me closer as it all gets ripped away" Coincidence?
Honestly after 1.5 listens I'm comfortable calling this better than Lift a Sail, and I still think that album is great.
kneejerk reaction, if i had to place this in my ranking of yellowcard albums right this second, best to worst: southern air lights and sounds paper walls / self-titled (idk, it's a tie for now) ocean avenue lift a sail wyttsy one for the kids
Yup, we cried. Leave a Light On, Empty Streets, Got Yours, Saviors Robes, I'm a Wrecking Ball and Fields and Fences are my favorites... We cried a bunch during Fields and Fences. The lyrics of all the songs really hit hard.
There's a lot to still be decided and said with this album, but man, the last song is so beautiful. The place you can tell Ryan was, is, and will strive to be after the band is done. All I could picture was all He has sang about throughout his career and the wonderful mindset and hope that he shows now. After the tears all I could do was smile and silently cheer. Yellowcard did what they set out to do before they leave us. They finally made a record that shows us who they have always strived to be, who they have been, and who they hope to be remembered as. Simply Themselves. Thank you gentlemen. For everything.
I had this big time with Ixora, haha. But yeah, most albums I anticipate highly end up with awkward first listens for me.
OK, here it goes.. Let's go for a drive, Yellowcard, just you and me. One last time. I'm teary eyed even before I press play.
First listen didn't do that much for me. And am I the only one that thinks the "Empty Street" demo is way better than the album version?
This was everything I hoped for. Every song is brilliant after first listen. What a fantastic ending to an already amazing discography. And I cried. A lot. It feels wonderful to be a 31 year old dude, and still be able to get so emotional over music. Thank you, Yellowcard.
I definitely have this with my most anticipated albums, but I kind of attribute it usually to how I'm listening. Like, I'll throw albums on when I'm working a lot, even for first listens, and then they kind of pass me by. It's later when I get the chance to take them for drives, runs, etc. that I start to really love them. It mostly happens with stuff I've really built up in my head, though. These plus "Got Yours" would be my top five. ...I hope so.
I agree on first listen I thought the album was very average and worse than Lift A Sail. Had another listen with good quality headphones six hours later and enjoyed some of the songs a lot more (namely Got Yours and Set Afire). I'm expecting to like it more with future listens
I think after 1 listen, I still like LAS better. But they are both fantastic. I think Savior's Robes and What Appears are my favorite tracks at this point.
While they are not my favorite band of all-time (either my 3rd or 4th in my OCD list-making), this is the toughest band break-up I've ever experienced. No other music artist has accompanied me so much with constant new and quality albums during my formative years. Plus, I believe these guys came back stronger from the hiatus and now they are saying goodbye at the peak of their songwriting capabilities. That hurts. I first discovered Yellowcard in late 2006 as a 13 year-old kid at the same time I was entering the then (felt) huge/now (feels) small world of social networking... They were one of my core favorites from the beginning, helping me get into music when I was starting to need it the most: the arrival of teenage self-consciousness meant loss of direction, internal and external drama at school. Soon I became lonely as hell and that lasted more than it should have, longer than it could have... Will never forget listening to "Ocean Avenue" and "Lights And Sounds" for the first time, feeling like I was discovering my own musical taste mirror: it spoke to me, it sang for me; to "Shadows And Regrets" back in 2008/2009 as me and the ones I knew since elementary/middle school grew in different directions, the magical notion of my longtime childhood town was suddenly ripped apart and I entered the (now eternal) nostalgia realm. I was too young, undefined and still discovering their discography to deeply care about their first hiatus. Fast forward to 2011 and WYTTSY comes out. I was "already" 17, deep into adolescence, diaristic writing, a new school and colleagues, a more consistent and expanded music taste. That record, still my favorite from them, pulled me back in and pushed Yellowcard to higher places in my consideration. I thought and think it sounded huge and massive, an epic on growing up (the opener and the closer set the atmosphere). Every time I play WYTTSY I am catapulted back to various nocturnal bus school trips and to being desperately/silently/stupidly infatuated with a girl from my class I barely knew. When Southern Air was released I was a mere month away from college and the record turned into a bookend to my teenage years. For the first time I was going to live without my parents, depending on myself in regards to all but money. Once again: friendships dissolving and loneliness creeping in. I premiered Southern Air at night, in my bed crying of frustration, pain and excitement. October 2014 and I'm getting to know the girl I'm still with two years later. Lift A Sail cemented itself as the soundtrack of falling in love with her. It's a throwback, a love-letter to the most thrilling period of my whole existence. Doubt anything will ever feel so immense as my lifetime angst exploding at its very worst because of her. September 2016 and I'm 23 (damn you, time), writing my masters' dissertation scared as shit both about it and the "real world" just around the corner. Getting older, decaying, not achieving the absolute best I can with what I am and seeing the few ones I love struggling with health issues are all fears that I never felt this close, immediate. At the same, living with my girlfriend, I finally found comfort, quotidian happiness, a tangible reason to exist and constantly believe everything can also improve. Yellowcard was one of the best friends I never had, carrying me through an unfulfilled and empty decade towards the place I belong. I'm sure I'm only one of the many whom they enlightened the way back home.
^ Great post Also, this album is top-tier YC to me on first listen. I haven't been able to say that any other time other than Southern Air. A Place We Set Afire might be in my top 5 YC songs.
I know there is plenty to add to this list, but 2016 has been something else. It's so weird to think that all of these pop punk bands are releasing all of these albums, many of which are later in their careers. blink-182, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Yellowcard, a fucking Fenix TX EP? This is crazy. I would have never thought all of these bands would be releasing albums right now if you tried to predict this 10 years ago.
I was fortunate enough to discover Yellowcard when "One for the Kids" was released. I say fortunate because as soon as I heard Ocean Avenue, I knew the band was headed for arena tours and stardom. Thankfully, "Way Away" was the first single, and I was able to catch them at the end of their smaller venue tour with Acceptance. So thanks to YC, I discovered a band that I love and I got to be a part of one of their last intimate shows. It was awesome. They played Rough Draft as an encore (acoustic). Definitely going to miss this band, but I'm so thankful for all of the great music they've created over the years. I also appreciate how much they value their fans.
Gonna try and get through this album before my boss shows up. On What appears now. Not a huge YC fan but always appreciated their work. Laptop speakers aren't doing it justice though...