As you've probably figured out, I know both composition and music, and, putting 2 and 2 together, I'm going to attemptto write a serial of mini reviews of apiece of the various albums that I've bought with said cards. It's not guaranteed that it'll be the best writing ever, but as tenacious as you're not screaming at me bloody murder to "Shut UP!"*, I'll know that it was at least half decent.
Riot!Paramore
Despite being a Paramore fan since last June, this was really the inaugural album that I had gotten around to buying. It wasn't my favourite album, and it was sick in comparison to their most recent installment, Brand New Eyes. Still, there were several songs on Riot! that were standouts to me, saving this otherwise overly-repetitive record.
The fifth track,When It Rains, perfectly expressed the complexity of an anything-but-smooth young romance that is ridden with questions and difficulties, as easily as capturing the powerful emotion of depression. For me, a standout line could be ground at the origin of the 2nd verse (1:24) "And when it rains/well, you ever get an escape/just running away/from all of the ones who know you". This verse opened my eyes to what I, personally, was missing by "hiding away" whenever I felt alone instead of just getting assistance and moving on with life. I am now a much happier person, partly due to those words. I also loved the far-from-typical intro that was ground in broken guitar chords. To me, they voiceed somewhat like the soothing sound of rain drumming on the roof late at night.
Track 9, We Are Broken, was real comfortable for me to place with, especially earlier this year. By simply listening to this song a pair of times, one would consider that the fundamental theme is depression, but after almost 20 or so plays, I realised that it was more nearly the disarray that a young, possibly orphaned refugee would be feeling; feeling weak, exposed and vulnerable, needing the truth, and above all, wanting protection but not learned from what or how to get it. The start time I listened to it, I recollect being quite surprised at the centre part; suddenly, Hayley Williams, the vocalist, rather artistically cries out in despair, "And I'll have the truth at any cost!" To me, that delineate the office that a simple plea for help can bring. I never before had thought that only eight words could be so impacting; so deep.
Fences(track 10) was the dog that, for me, really solidified this book as being more than mediocre. It was as if the lot could somehow see inside my mind; as at the sentence that I had bought this album, I was passing through some of the same issues that I felt this call was talk about. Fences doesn't mess around: right off the bat, itpaints a colored image of a somewhat-troubled person who is trapped figurative prison; constantly being watched, monitored and observed. ("I'm sitting in a room/made up of only big white walls/and in the halls/there's people look through the window in the door/they know just what we're here for/Don't look up just let them believe there's no place else you'd rather be/You're always on display/ for everyone to learn and learn from/Don't you live by now/ you can't go back/ 'cause this route is all you'll always have") Of all 330 songs on my iPod, with many more that I've heard, this trail has probably affected me the most, emotionally and psychologically.
Finally, the last standout track on this album was a bonus track by the name ofMisery Business (acoustic version) Notto be lost with its more popular counterpart, the regular Misery Business, the acoustic version is included under the "album only" category on iTunes. In my opinion, it is 100% worth it, if not solely for this translation of the track! While I plant the 'normal' Misery Business to sound waytoo cluttered, busy and chaotic for my taste, its sibling marries Hayley's sheer vocal (and sometimes still a cappella! power with instrumental acoustics, resulting in a dog that is undervalued, and, in my opinion, better than the original.
Despite the repetitive parallels I found between the early tracks (Miracleand Hallelujahas well as CrushCrushCrush, That's What You Get,and For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic), Letthe Flames Begin (a dog that seemed somewhat out of property on the album)and the busyness that was the original Misery Business;Riot!is protected by several tracks that were not only decent, but throughly enjoyable and emotional. Just as the 2nd word in a series is thought to be the hardest to write, the 2nd album in a band's career seems to be hard to record, and, overall, Paramore did well on this album.
7/10 stars
*Don't wish it? Matter your blessings; I could be attempting (and failing) to sing.
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