2008 Woodie Awards
Noteworthy: Album Reviews
New Found Glory: Coming Home
Bob Pearsall
Issue date: 10/6/06 Section: Arts & Living
- Page 1 of 1
The mere mention of this bands name can cause people to either recall their awkward, pop-punk ridden middle school days, or go into fits of intense vomiting. With very few exceptions, there is no middle ground. Sadly, I find myself straddling this line. I was admittedly smitten with this band since the tender young age of thirteen, and somewhere around graduating high school they simply dropped off my radar. Sadly, these circumstances have left me with both a sentimental and nostalgic view of the band's career, as well as an admitted frustration with the simplicity and sophomoric nature of their sugar-coated, accessible brand of punk-rooted pop (a contradiction, perhaps.) By the time Coming Home landed in my lap, I was all sorts of dizzy wondering what to expect. Is it possible for a band of five young gentlemen to churn out such limiting music for damn near ten years without becoming cartoons of themselves? Or on the contrary, is it possible for them to grow up, perhaps creating something more meaningful and lasting?
No matter how pressing the question may be, Coming Home refuses to give up any answers immediately. At first the songs don't sound remarkably different from anything the band has churned out before, and the band certainly hasn't gotten any smarter lyrically with choruses like "Don't leave me here / I can't breathe without you" and "Hold my hand / I'll take you everywhere / Anywhere you want to go" (for opener "Oxygen" and second track "Hold My Hand" respectively.) On repeated listens, however, all the little nuances the band has thrown in. Melancholy piano lines; a half-shouted, country tinged verse; and strangely sentimental sounding, wordless vocal refrains all sneak their way onto Coming Home. While this may be standard fare or even stagnant for many other bands, we have to remember we're talking about the same band that used to create summer albums for high school freshmen not usually seen without a skateboard.
And it's exactly that audience who NFG seemingly want to alienate, or perhaps grow up with. It's no doubt most of their fans of yore have bypassed the trials and insecurities of mid adolescence, and it's no secret that the band members have been faking it for quite some time (most members are married and pushing thirty.) Thankfully New Found Glory are tired of pretending and I'm spared from tales of hormone-induced crushes and other such immaturities that would have all but ruined Coming Home entirely for me. Instead we are treated to overly sentimental table talk and meditations concerning the band's comfort and trouble with settling into adulthood and married life, and just when I thought I was out of the woods, they go ahead and fumble with this approach too. While moments like the almost (and I stress almost) existential ballad "When I Die" and world weary wishes for numbness in "Boulders" work well for the band in the ways of maturation, forced proclamations of adulthood such as the blatant and repeated mentions of sex in "Connected" are nothing but awkward. This topped with the continued lack of verbal eloquence the band has always had trouble with give the lyrics, and thus a good deal of the songs an overall lackluster aftertaste.
Whether it's for the better, worse, or none of the above, Coming Home is most certainly different than NFG's past efforts. It's a record that is not only capable of being loved or hated. It can be liked, or looked at in confusion, or even mildly disliked (attractive options.) As for maturation, there's no doubt that despite the members' ages, their little band has a way to go. The slight change in structure and aesthetic in songs really shows through and brings the band's underlying simple songwriting prowess to life, but the awkward lyrics on multiple occasions detract from the overall effect of the warmer arrangements. Coming Home is like the child you sent off to college the first time they come home (making the album title wonderfully fitting.) They're different, they're awkward, they're not quite an adult, but you can see it in the future.
RATING: 6.7/10
No matter how pressing the question may be, Coming Home refuses to give up any answers immediately. At first the songs don't sound remarkably different from anything the band has churned out before, and the band certainly hasn't gotten any smarter lyrically with choruses like "Don't leave me here / I can't breathe without you" and "Hold my hand / I'll take you everywhere / Anywhere you want to go" (for opener "Oxygen" and second track "Hold My Hand" respectively.) On repeated listens, however, all the little nuances the band has thrown in. Melancholy piano lines; a half-shouted, country tinged verse; and strangely sentimental sounding, wordless vocal refrains all sneak their way onto Coming Home. While this may be standard fare or even stagnant for many other bands, we have to remember we're talking about the same band that used to create summer albums for high school freshmen not usually seen without a skateboard.
And it's exactly that audience who NFG seemingly want to alienate, or perhaps grow up with. It's no doubt most of their fans of yore have bypassed the trials and insecurities of mid adolescence, and it's no secret that the band members have been faking it for quite some time (most members are married and pushing thirty.) Thankfully New Found Glory are tired of pretending and I'm spared from tales of hormone-induced crushes and other such immaturities that would have all but ruined Coming Home entirely for me. Instead we are treated to overly sentimental table talk and meditations concerning the band's comfort and trouble with settling into adulthood and married life, and just when I thought I was out of the woods, they go ahead and fumble with this approach too. While moments like the almost (and I stress almost) existential ballad "When I Die" and world weary wishes for numbness in "Boulders" work well for the band in the ways of maturation, forced proclamations of adulthood such as the blatant and repeated mentions of sex in "Connected" are nothing but awkward. This topped with the continued lack of verbal eloquence the band has always had trouble with give the lyrics, and thus a good deal of the songs an overall lackluster aftertaste.
Whether it's for the better, worse, or none of the above, Coming Home is most certainly different than NFG's past efforts. It's a record that is not only capable of being loved or hated. It can be liked, or looked at in confusion, or even mildly disliked (attractive options.) As for maturation, there's no doubt that despite the members' ages, their little band has a way to go. The slight change in structure and aesthetic in songs really shows through and brings the band's underlying simple songwriting prowess to life, but the awkward lyrics on multiple occasions detract from the overall effect of the warmer arrangements. Coming Home is like the child you sent off to college the first time they come home (making the album title wonderfully fitting.) They're different, they're awkward, they're not quite an adult, but you can see it in the future.
RATING: 6.7/10
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Miles
posted 10/06/06 @ 4:16 PM EST
Hey Bob,
Maybe in the next music review you write you could actually talk about the music. Besides the brief phrase "wordless vocal refrains," you talk about little other than yourself, and the lyrics that you admit are pretty lame. (Continued…)
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