Been running through their discography a bit over the past few days. Been making me wonder how different their career trajectory would've been if they released Paper Walls immediately after Ocean Avenue instead of Lights and Sounds.
I think it would have been vastly different, I remember living through Lights and Sound's release and seeing how many fans dropped off because of that album, many never came back for later albums.
Of the set, the only ones that sound good are the EP and WYTTSY. PW is slightly better than OA and L&S.
I was absolutely one of those fans. I was so disappointed with Lights and Sounds, that they just completely fell off my radar. I didn't listen to them again until 2014(?) when they released One Bedroom.
My friends and I were young enough where we weren't online much and loved Lights and Sounds. I didn't realize it was hated until the reunion.
Yep, I totally am one of them as well. I still think L&S sucks and was totally ready to give up on them before Paper Walls brought me back.
I don’t get the the dislike of Lights and Sounds at all. It has a slightly darker tone at moments, but really it’s the same band and producer and they didn’t just try and carbon copy their previous record. I’ve made a massive playlists of Yellowcard stuff before and the songs that sound most different are OFTK/Underdog EP and Lift A Sail/ST. Everything else feels closely connected.
Lights and Sounds hit me HARD like 8 years ago and has remained a top favorite of mine. Mainly bc it is darker and different. So many underrated songs on that album. The album art is also my favorite of theirs.
Yeah my opinion of L&S isn’t based on the tone of the record, I just think it has very weak songs haha
Same. It's not the tone, it's just I am not a fan of the songs. Only ones I'd go back to are Rough Landing and Holly Wood Died.
3 flights L&S Down on my head Sure thing falling Rough landing City of devils Martin Sheen Grey Holly Wood Died Super solid songs, IMO. Hated most of them when the album came out, but I love them now.
Lots of great songs on L&S. Just listened to it again and I don’t get the negative comments about the songs at all. To each their own I guess. I like how this L&S contrasts the brighter beach feel of Ocean Ave with a darker California night feel.
L&S is probably in my top 3 Yellowcard albums along with SA/WYTTSY. It's dark/emotional in a way that I really enjoy. I generally like albums that have a particular mood/feel throughout, and that one has always hit me. I can understand not liking it, but I've never really understood people considering it an actively bad album.
This recent run through was the first time I was hearing a lot of these albums in full. If I had to rank them after these first listens: Ocean Avenue > Paper Walls > WYTTSY > Yellowcard > Lift a Sail > Southern Air > Lights and Sounds Haven't gotten around to listening to anything pre-OA yet.
I think “Shrink the World” would have been a slam dunk single to release following Ocean Avenue. Paper Walls is their BEST record. All hits, no misses. Fight me.
Keeper and Here I Am Alive should have been huge. Also: Paper Walls Ocean Avenue Southern Air When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes Lift A Sail Lights and Sounds One For The Kids Yellowcard
Lights and Sounds is severely underrated. I love so much about that record. But I do also wonder how different things would’ve been if Paper Walls came out first.
I saw someone say L&S was like a nighttime version of Ocean Avenue, where I always felt Paper Walls was more of that. L&S just feels like a different band on a lot of the songs.
Same. HATED it when it came out. Wanted OA part II. Really like about half of it. All of my favs are on your list except for waiting game.