Mayday Parade - A Lesson In Romantics
Release Date: July 10th, 2007
Record Label: Fearless Records
July is one hell of a month in terms of releases, especially pop-punk. Just take a look at the list. You'll find highly anticipated albums from bands like The Starting Line, Yellowcard, MxPx, The Rocket Summer and Sum 41. Another one you will see is Mayday Parade's A Lesson In Romantics. After their unimpressive release of the EP Tales Told By Dead Friends in November, the band's back with their debut album that will surely become one of your most played of the Summer, despite being up against some of the toughest competition of the year.
The record starts off with “Jamie All Over,” a "cover" song originally by Kid Named Chicago, Jason Lancaster's previous band. A song that'll instantly get stuck in your head, and a great opener and perfect representation of the next eleven songs. “Black Cat” follows, and isn't any more or any less catchy than the “Jamie All Over” was, song starting off with soft vocals building up to an energetic chorus that could be described as somewhat of a tongue twister with its lyrics ("You're like a black cat/ with a black backpack/full of fireworks and you're gonna burn the city down right now"). “When I Get Home You're So Dead” is the only song that was re-recorded from their EP to make it on their album, and listeners won't have to suffer from "demo-itis" since the new version is clearly better than the first.
“If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask” is one of the slower songs on the album, and despite the title looking like a Fall Out Boy b-side without the wit, (Though if you think that title was long, you haven't seen anything yet) it's still one of the catchiest songs from the second you hear the chorus to the high pitched "woah-oh's" towards the end. Next, the band tries their luck with the piano-driven ballad “Miserable At Best.” This song clocking in over five minutes gets quite boring after the first couple of minutes and I would say is my least favorite off the album but "least favorite" doesn't mean much when you like every song. The closer (Now take a deep breath) “You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds” is another slow song, and finishes the album with an a cappella on the last verse, which is my favorite way to end a song.
Overall, A Lesson In Romantics blows Tales Told By Dead Friends out of the water. The vocals are better, the lyrics are better and the production doesn't sound like it was done in the dark. Although this album may not be Direction, Paper Walls, or Secret Weapon, it's definitely a release that should be included in your Summer play list and not buried under the other pop-punk releases this season.
man, July is going to be amazing.
any news on when the new All Time Low comes out? cause that should be in the list of pop-punk gems this summer, IF it comes out before November.
man, July is going to be amazing.
any news on when the new All Time Low comes out? cause that should be in the list of pop-punk gems this summer, IF it comes out before November.
It should be out late August or sometime in September.
I can't wait to hear this album although i did like "When I Get Home You're So Dead" better on the EP because i like the other singer more. Still anticipating this release
the whole CD is really good, and unlike the reviewer i really like "Miserable At Best", it's got a lot of heart, which is one of the things that i think is most compelling about this band; their raw emotion captured in every aspect of their music.
the new CD is very different from the EP [which i also really like] but parts of it are very reminescent of the EP, and it is still the same Mayday Parade at heart, and that's all i ask. haha
It's weird because the 3 songs that they've officially released as previews of this album are all so different from everything else on the album, which is refreshing because i hate buying pop-punk albums that sound like the same song over and over again for 12 tracks... this CD is definitely the opposite of that, "Black Cat", "Jamie All Over", and the new version of "When I Get Home..." are all so different from eachother and from everything else on the CD, but still, altogether it sounds great, and came together awesomly =).
over-all, it's a really good CD, and is definitely going to be on repeat for a good while from the moment you buy it. this band is awesome!
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