Went out and bought Yellowcard's new album, Paper Walls, last week - loving it.
Before you ask, yes I'm old school and I still buy CDs, because although the band only gets like 0.001% of the overall sales revenue, it's still something rather than nothing if you pirate. That said, the music industry's business model is decades old, way out of touch with reality, and needs an urgent rethink. Plus, there's some cool about seeing your music collection physically - a whole stack of CDs. And no, Cover Flow in iTunes doesn't cut it at all.
So back to the album. If you were hoping for a return to Ocean Avenue, you're out of luck - Paper Walls is a progression of their previous album, Lights and Sounds. Still their distinctive rock + strings sound, but as with Lights and Sounds, it has more of a serious, rock sound, rather than the lighter, more strings-oriented sound that Ocean Avenue had. The lyrics reflect that as well.
Favourite tracks? Shadows and Regrets, Five Becomes Four, and Paper Walls.
I was hoping for a return to Ocean Avenue, but bands change as members age. It's quite interesting to see the progression over their last albums. Nevertheless, Paper Walls is still a ripper album, one I don't regret buying, but if you can't/won't, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you get it via other means.
Hope Australian radio picks them up, and anyone else, just so Pink can finally be knocked out, and banished from radio forever. Some songs I can stand hearing every hour (e.g. Hinder, Rihanna, Beyonce), but Pink's whinging and whining just gives me headaches, and don't get me started on her new political track, ugh
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