The Full Effect The Get Up Kids have on you (Something To Write Home About - Get Up Kids)

Member Name: thebluehippo

Product:	Something To Write Home About - Get Up Kids
Date:	24/06/07 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great great album

Disadvantages: A peak that was not quite achieved in other albums

2002 was a strange year for me, I had finished college the previous year, spent a good few months learning about the working world and I was in a situation of what I should be doing with my life, and then I discovered the Get Up Kids. But that’s not to say my life changed suddenly because I had discovered a pretty damn good band, but how the music matched my mood at the time can be summed up by this quote from High Fidelity “Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”

Do not get me wrong the Get Up Kids were not some depressing dirge band talking about the injustices of the song writers life, they were an Emo band, but an exceptional one at that who have had a huge influence (not to mention set a huge standard) on some modern emo bands.

‘Something to Write Home About’ can arguably be described as a point when the band peaked at their highest amongst their ten year career (1995-2005).
Part of the appeal with the band I had was I could relate with their songs about relationships, love, crushes and loneliness - which was made to feel more like solitude.

The songs were a stepping-stone for me between the popular Indie stuff of the early zero’s moving towards the punk sound, a taste in music I am still into today.
The sound provides a nice compromise of the two sounds with catchy sing-alongs with poetic lyrics, with music that can be described a synth-pop with guitars.

The band from Kansas City was – Matthew Pryor (Guitar/Vocals), Jim Suptic (Guitar/Vocals), Robert Pope (Bass), Ryan Pope (Drums) and James Dewees (Keyboard).

The album composed of 14 tracks which all have great value to them. The artwork completes the whole packaging and is a strong reason why I would never drop the CD in favour for MP3 downloads. This album was the first James Dewees worked on and with the combination on the rest of the band producing a new interesting sound.

Although all tracks are great these ones stand out:
Valentine - a romantic little song mixing the keyboard influence with guitars providing a great song to sit back and relax to and think about your significant other.

Red Letter Day – this song is pretty sad as it’s about a break-up however the power of the vocals and the backing music produces an inspiring defiance to just get over that person. “You’re just a phase I’ve gotten over anyhow…”

Ten Minutes – an upbeat little pop-punk song great little intro gets you into the song “Ten minutes to downtown is ten minutes too far…”

My Apology – this is quite a mellow easy listening song, which is basically about an apology, anyway it’s the basic story of guy messes up, girl chucks him, guy needs her but she doesn’t need him

I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel – okay if you can only listen to one Get Up Kids track then listen to this one. The song opens with a nice little instrumental before the lyrics kick in, song about independence assuming a one-night stand “One night doesn’t mean the rest of my life.” The moog keyboard ‘noises’ are fantastic in this – you can see how the use of the moog keyboard has influenced bands such as Motion City Soundtrack.

I’ll Catch You – is a piano ballad-like number sang with gentle vocals it gives a personal intimate feel and is in all a nice little feel good love song.

The track listing is:
Holiday
Action and Action
Valentine
Red Letter Day
Out of Reach
Ten Minutes
The Company Dime
My Apology
I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel
Long Goodnight
Close to Home
I’ll Catch You
Forgive and Forget

[Total Track Time 52 Minutes 20 Seconds]

Released on Vagrant Records

Although my tastes have changed throughout the year The Get Up Kids are a band I can easily listen to any day and although the album reminds me of harder times were I can look back and relax with this the memories brought by this sublime album.
The appeal of The Get Up Kids is they write songs about the strains of young people as they go through that difficult stage of life from growing up. Although listening to some of the lyrics you realise these songs are actually quite sad, they prove supportive of you in situations when your experiencing that pain yourself.

Summary: An album for the emo, loner or hopeless romantic.