Yellowcard Band • Page 113

"You dreamt of some better place
Some better love
or some better name
If I ever escape
I'm gonna love and give it a name"

Might be the only time in history that I cringed listening to a YC song.

 

The real problem with Make it So is that it's just a generic pop rock song on an album they tried to do something different. It sticks out like a sore thumb and if it were on another album that had the pop rock sound, it'd be the weaker of almost any other song on there.

 

Make Me So is a fine song.

 

A fine song is a good description. Still at the lower tier of their discography, which only speaks to how good it is. In no way does it top any great YC song though

 

Vocals, vocal melodies, and production mostly. City of Devils is one of Ryan's worst songs, vocally. Not a fan of Be the Young's "wall of sound" or super cliche lyrics.

 

It's still got really cool production flourishes in the background during the verses, it's really not much of an outlier on the record.

 

Really, you think that's worse than "I never thought I would wake up in bed watching the world falling down on my head, I'd sleep like a dog if you would never have said this is the world falling down on your head"??

 

Be The Young is very overrated and not a good closer at all. Awakening is another very overrated song in their discog

Make Me So is great and I've never thought it "stuck out" on the record, it's not a far cry from The Deepest Well or My Mountain. That bridge is such classic YC perfectly melded with the sonic vibe of the album

I like City Of Devils but would not call it a masterpiece. The vocal performance is worthy of criticism but that doesn't make the whole song bad

 

What makes this so bad to you?

 

almost every song on southern air would make my top but vicious kind is horrible

 

I think there being songs that are on the bottom of people's rankings can be at the top of others and vice versa is a testament to Yellowcard's discography of how strong almost all their songs are

 

Hey now, leave Down On My Head out of this! Those lyrics may not be the best but song rules.

Nope Nope Nope

 

It feels like incredibly cheap rhyming and it's just a bland, uninteresting way to get the point across.

 

Make Me So is one of my least favorite YC songs, but the chorus is decent and the bridge is incredible, so I think it's OK. I don't think it fits well into LaS, though, and I do wish the verses were better.

Also, I completely agree that City of Devils is fantastic. Easily a top 15 or so song in their discography for me

 

City of Devils has some of the most impressive musical composition of their entire catalog. The same goes for Waiting Game. The structure of those songs is just incredible.

The bridge in City of Devils is just out of control. Sean's string arrangements with Ryan singing "what if I wanted you here right now?" is unbelievable.

Criminally, and I mean CRIMINALLY under-appreciated.

 

One day I hope to hear:

1) The unreleased Patrick Stump version of "Here I Am Alive"

and

2) The WYTTSY version of "Empty Street"

 

None of the arrangements or production on L&S really impress me at all given that many similar elements are present on PW and LaS, with much better songwriting.

 

i forgot about this

 

I'm just curious if/how people can deal with Ryan's vocals on L&S.

 

You aren't the first person to say that, but I honestly just don't hear it. I usually make mixes/playlists of bands and on my YC one, it can go from PW to L&S to SA and I can't really tell any difference. Songs on that album rule so maybe that is the reason?

 

Never had any issue at all with his vocals on Lights and Sounds. I think they sound fine and not much different than other albums.

 

Really? Man, it sounds like something was really wrong during those sessions. He sounds so dull and emotionless in most of those songs. The chorus of Holly Wood Died is the only actually good vocal moment on the album, I think.

 

Yeah, I mean if we were to rank vocal performances I don't think anything but those two and maybe How I Go would make it. On the other songs though I just feel the vocals serve the song, I've never listened to YC for like belting vocals like LP or anything, so I never noticed it. I hope that made sense lol.

 

I think it's just a different kind of emotion on that album. The bridge of Martin Sheen or JFK when he drops down an octave is unbelievable. I love it.

Also IIRC he was also having issues then. Didn't he have surgery a year or two later?

 

Good point, I forgot about that song. I also remember in the bridge of Grey his voice seems pretty good

"I know every last regret inside of me is my own. The way I hold them close has made me be this way and I will never change. I know I'm stuck here on my own"