Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave (September 16, 2016) Album • Page 46

Yeah, Adam is fantastic on this. I love John and always want more of him, but this is peak Adam. Also, since it got brought up:

TAYF: Classic that's as important as maybe any other album for the development of my own musical tastes;
WYWTB: Classic that was the perfect follow up
Louder Now: Classic that's their best album before maybe today
New Again: Good, not great
Self-Titled: Very good
Happiness Is: Great
Tidal wave: Potential classic that very well may supplant their first three records as THE TBS record in my heart.

This is a game changer. On my list of favorite bands, TBS has always hovered outside of the very top 3-4 band tier. But honestly, this is so good that it means they may have 4 'classic' albums in my mind, and don't have a bad one out of 7. I'm enjoying it that much. This very well may mean I have to expand who I consider to be in my 'favorite' bands and bump them up a tier on my imaginary band power rankings that mean nothing to anyone but me. It's a big day, let me tell you.

 

Yeah, this will possibly bump them up into my upper favorites now. First two albums are classics to me, I really like Louder Now despite it's many imperfections, self-titled had three of my favorite songs they'd done since WYWTB, and I love Happiness Is. And as much as I dislike most of New Again I love three songs on there. So they're definitely not a perfect band, but they're up there for me now. Which is crazy to think considering after New Again I had altogether stopped caring about them pretty much. When they played with blink in 2009 I was stuck in traffic and missed TBS, and at the time couldn't have cared less haha. Louder Now through self-titled, even if they made some songs I love on every album, I didn't connect the same with them. Last two albums changed that.

 

The only thing I dislike about Adam's voice on this is the way he says "Jackson-veal".

 

It bugs me too but I'm assuming he's referring to Jacksonville, NC and I can confirm that many people including myself say it like that lol. Also instead of saying "Whiteville" we say "whyville"

 

This is an amazing record. I personally think, without exception, that their newest record is always their best. Adam sounds fantastic.

 

holy shit that first song

 

LN is pretty easily the weakest imo but I really enjoy that album, like every other TBS album. It's got a lot going for it I think, but it has two of the weakest TBS songs in its tracklist.

Tidal Wave feels like the WYWTB to Happiness Is TAYF and I love it.

 

He's not pitchy. He gets a little strained and squeaky and weird, and I can see that aesthetic being a turn-off, for sure. But his pitch is just fine.

 

I really can't get into "In The Middle Of It All". It might be the most generic song they've ever written.

 

I just keep liking it more. Yea middle of it all is a straight ahead rock song but still love it. Melody is catchy and it's full of emotion

 

Haha, my wife is from the foothills of NC (between Asheville and Greenville, SC) and I totally believe you on the pronunciation. It's still the only time his vocals took me out of a song. I mean his voice has always been kind of grating, that's part of its charm, right?

 

only three tracks in but yeah Adam sounds great on this. best performance of his since louder now I'd say.

 

the bridge of "in the middle of it all" is crazy imo. and i love the guitar at the end of the chorus

 

tayf - scrappy debut
wywtb - classic
ln - lackluster major label debut
na - completely unfocused, bad record
s/t - lackluster "reunion" record
happiness - lackluster record
tidal wave - first decent record in a very long time




I suspect no one itt will agree with this

 

Haha oh nice. Yeah we have some weird pronunciations. But yeah that's always been the charm of TBS, the little nuances of his voice being a bit grating and rough with a weird drawl and strange breathing techniques

 

The straining and squeaky sound is Adam singing out of tune because he strains too much trying to hit the note (Thanks smoking). It's mostly heard in Holy Water.

 

This is a really good punk rock record kind of

Edit: this is probably their most punk rock record. But they blend a ton of styles on this

 

TAYF - Classic, hungry debut album
WYWTB - Slight sophomore slump with some undeniable classic songs
LN - 3/4 of an awesome, Police-y way to go big-budget, but a few underwritten tracks
NA - Surprisingly good top-to-bottom, writing-wise, with some production lapses on the rock songs
S/T - Actual garbage and blatant pandering to whiny old fans
Happiness - Decent attempt to try and mature, but confused mature with boring at times
TW - Shockingly vital comeback

 

I have a feeling these songs will translate well live since they arnt necessarily hard to sing

 

Wasn't planning on going to this tour but now I want to

 

TAYF - It's okay but I can't remember the last time I listened to it 5/10
WYWTB - Incredible 9/10
LN - Their best album 10/10
NA - Good 7/10
S/T - Really solid comeback album 8/10
HI - Like 5 great songs, the rest is boring 6/10

and I haven't made my mind up about the new album yet.

 

Anyone buy the CD at Best Buy today? Two acoustic bonus tracks.

 

It's kind of cool that these guys still have such a good following still

 

Hmmm, I definitely need more time with this. Upon first listen, I don't think it's nearly as good as Happiness Is...(although it took me a while to fully appreciate that album). I feel like everyone who really likes this album was expecting not to like it or had really low expectations. Even though TBS hasn't made a GREAT album in nearly 10 years, I still have very high expectations just bc I know what they're capable of. Mixed with seeing all the hype on this thread, I can't help but feel a little let down.

I'm gonna spend a lot more time with it and have no doubts it'll grow on me (hopefully).

Also, is it bad that I think You Can't Look Back is (easily, imo) the best song on the album?

 

I thought this was pretty okay. And given my generally very negative opinion of the band, I guess that says something.