Yellowcard Band • Page 74

I would personally put WYTTSY in the lower part of the YC discography, but I agree that SA is among their best, and LaS felt like a bit of a letdown after that. But listening to it on its own merits, it's quite enjoyable.

 

One of the coolest things about Lift a Sail to me is that, after a career of being defined as a summer band, they made a fucking great fall album.

 

It's funny, I know OA is kind of considered the classic and magnum opus by many, but it's probably around 4th or 5th for me. But again, I like L&S a lot so it's in good company around there. WYTTSY is probably my least favorite of the big 6.

 

Did WYTTSY used to be your favorite, or was that someone else? I thought you were pretty big on that album a year or so ago.

 

Have you guys ever checked out Midget Tossing or Where We Stand? Obviously a completely different band but just curious.

 

It was around when LaS was announced. But that was right when I was really getting into YC outside of the singles. I've cooled on it a lot. I mean, I still really really like it but tbh it feels like 10 pretty good YC songs instead of an album, if that makes sense.

 

I did and yeah, they're p bad imo.

 

Yeah, I totally know what you mean. I was going to say that that one never feels like an album to me. OA, LaS, and SA really feel like journeys when you put them on. WYTTSY could almost be a b-side collection or something, if the songs weren't so good.

 

I would say it's gone in the opposite direction for me in that time, but I still like it.

 

I think WYTTSY could be a b sides collection as is. It has a couple great songs, but then again, for every band it seems like there are one or two b sides that are up there with the band's best material.

 

Yeah totally. Like, the songwriting is there and when put on shuffle with the rest of the YC catalog they're fine and hold their own, but the way they're arranged on WYTTSY just doesn't make it feel like a cohesive album like the others.

 

If I hadn't been listening to it so much when my grandpa passed away, it probably wouldn't be on that level for me. But listening to it now is still such an emotional experience.

 

The bones are there. The opener feels like an opener and the closer feels like a closer, but it doesn't really have an arc throughout whereas most of their albums definitely do.

 

"RIvertown Blues" blows my mind every time

 

The bridge is so good. Love the falsetto.

 

It's interesting Craig mentions the arcs of the albums, it definitely feels like pretty much all of them follow some sort of arc.

I don't know how many of y'all frequent Sputnimusic, but one of the contributors (SowingSeason) is a huge fan and has wrote a few reviews for their records and in all of them he mentions the arcs they follow. Great writer.

 

Lift a Sail is a really important record for me too, but one that I don't listen to often because of what I associate it with (unfortunately I associate Moving Mountains' self-titled and TWY's TGG with the same thing too, which are both albums that I love, but find hard to listen to).

I was nervous about listening to it when it was first released, knowing that it was about the accident that Ryan's wife had. A little more than a year before it came out my wife fell off a horse and fractured a vertebra in her back. She fully recovered, no paralysis, but required surgery and a long road to recovery. It was a really tough time to go through and I wasn't sure I wanted to revisit that. But eventually I gave in and thankfully the overall positive message made it not too emotionally draining, and now with 3 years of distance from my wife's accident, it's gotten easier.

I really like "Transmission Home" and "Crash the Gates" and I would like "One Bedroom" a lot more, I think, if it didn't just fade out. A strong ending would make that song so much more impactful. "Make Me So" I could do without.

As for rankings, I have PW and SA as my 1a and 1b, and they can swap positions any given day. I'd put LaS, OA, Underdog, and OFTK, in some order in the middle, and WYTTSY and L&S at the bottom. But I don't really dislike any of them.

 

I was really into reading reviews for a while, and Sowing's (along with Channing Freeman's) were always my favorites

 

Yeah I love reading and re-reading reviews. Chan, Sowing, Adam Knott, and Adam Thomas are my favs

 

I remember his review for Lift a Sail. Liked that one a lot.

I think I recall you mentioning this in the review thread for Lift a Sail and that you were hesitant to listen because you thought it might hit too close to home. I'm glad you ended up delving in eventually, and glad to hear your wife is doing better.

I think the issue with the beginning is that they sort of put all the less weighty material up front. So you could get 15 minutes or so into that album and still not realize how personal and dark it is. I think they were shooting for radio so I understand why they did it, but that's definitely my least favorite aspect of the album. "One Bedroom" fading out sucks too.

 

My Ideal one is not going to be friendly to certain albums, but...
1. Convocation
2. Breathing
3. With You Around
4. Always Summer
5. The Sound of You and Me
6. The Takedown
7. Awakening
8. Crash the Gates
9. Believe
10. Surface of the Sun
11. Lift a Sail
13. Be the Young
14. Rivertown Blues
15. Back Home
16. Life of Leaving Home
17. Cut Me, Mick
18. Rough Landing Holly
19. Lights and Sounds
20. Way Away

Encore:
21. Paper Walls
22. Hollywood Died
23. Ocean Ave

I know Only One is a staple so no way it won't be played...but you said ideal
Also I'm not being negative about the new album, I'm sure it will be great but I couldn't care less if any of it is played. They have soooo many songs that need to be played and I'm sure they will a lot of favorites out. No need to shorten that list with new songs.

I feel like there might be some revisionist history with WYDTSY. Maybe it was just because they had comeback from hiatus but I remember everyone being on such a high and loving that album.

 

I forgot I talked about that on AP, but thanks, she's doing quite well. Her back held up through carrying twins and is probably stronger now than it was before the accident.

I can definitely agree with your point there. I think in addition to shooting for radio, they were trying to make fans feel comfortable. The intro riff to "Transmission Home" definitely feels like a Yellowcard riff. Had they tried to start the record with something like "Fragile and Dear" I think they would have put a lot of people off, though "Illuminate", "The Deepest Well" (which starts off sounding like Anberlin), and "My Mountain" could have been moved to earlier in the record.

 

If they didn't ruin "Empty Street", I can easily say that this will end up in my favorites. Listening to the demo til this day. Crazy.

 

Putting together an ideal setlist is too monumental of a task for me to take on, especially without hearing the new record. But I hope they play some different songs from across their discography at different shows, record them all, and put out a double live album, similar to Thrice's Anthology.

I think a lot of people (myself included) were really happy to have YC back and that played into the early love of WYTTSY, but I don't find myself going back to it too often anymore.

 

Live video too please?