Yellowcard - Yellowcard (September 30, 2016) Album • Page 13

Yep yep exactly. Ocean Avenue being the BA of the catalog also makes sense, if only for the massive singles.

SA really is a special album. I think at this point it's my favorite YC album, it's lean and taut and dynamic. It takes everything that makes Yellowcard and amplifies it while still pushing the boundaries of that alt rock sound.

 

Lift A Sail is a truly great album, but it has faults here and there namly in the experimentation they tried. Feels like they put 10 pounds of magic in a 5 pound bag.

 

Yep, definitely their best. The interesting thing is that it wouldn't overwhelmingly dominate my list of favorite YC songs. Like with this JEW ranking I'm working on (you finish yours yet?) I've got 5 Futures songs in the top 15 and two in the top three. My list for Yellowcard would be more evenly distributed, but Southern Air just feels so complete and cohesive that it easily feels like their crowning album-length statement.

 

The problem with Lift a Sail is that the first third of it isn't all that engaging. That album is perfect from "Fragile and Dear" on though. It could have been their best if they had kept the "10-song album" thing going.

 

I plan on finishing it this evening. We've got a hurricane coming in so my power might go out but I finished the catalog yesterday morning so I've got a good list in my head

 

Definitely. The first 3-4 songs are good but they could've been b-sides for all I cared. Fragile onward is wonderful

 

i love transmission home and crash the gates

 

Crash is my favorite of the first half I think but it doesn't touch the back half

 

I would keep "Convocation" and "Transmission Home." I would cut "Crash the Gates," "Make Me So," and probably "One Bedroom."

 

I'd say the first 5 songs have the best stuff from Lift a Sail, besides the title track.

 

Yeah, tracks 2-5 are the four worst songs on the album to me.

 

LaS would've been an awesome 10 track album but hey it's still great as is

 

Sleep In The Snow is my new favorite YC song

 

Always been one of my favorites from SA.

 

The bridge is unreal with the piano chords and Ryan's lyrics. That whole song is something else

 

The ending to that song is pretty epic IMO.
However I believe that Rivertown Blues is one of THE best songs Yellowcard has ever done. It is in there with my top faves with those being The sound of you and me (I mean come on, that ending thoughhhh), and October nights, and You me and one spotlight.

 

4 more weeks to wait for this is wayyy too long

 

I feel like Make me So and One Bedroom where the songs they were pushing for radio, but they are easily the worst songs on the album. I second everyone's opinion that Fragile and onward is amazing though.

 

Yep, those songs were definitely the ones. And what a weird time in their career to start trying to get back on the radio. Lift a Sail is probably their least commercial record otherwise.

 

Yeah, I guess they were going for it one last time. Had it worked out, we probably wouldn't be waiting for the final Yellowcard album right now.. I also remember Jason's phone interview with Ryan in one of the early AP podcasts, during the SA album cycle, where Ryan was hopeful that Here I Am Alive was about to gain some traction. That song was also somewhat made for radio.

 

sleep in the snow def top tier and what LaS should have been like

 

I love sleep in the snow!

 

Yes, "Here I Am Alive" probably should have been the lead-off single, but I don't think they could have gotten on the radio again without pulling a Fall Out Boy and going extremely pop. I'm glad they didn't do that.

 

here i am alive was their most pop friendly song since ocean avenue

 

"One Bedroom" could have been a great song without the programmed drums (not that they're always bad, they just don't fit this song) and the fade out at the end.