Customer Reviews

Brace Yourself for the Mediocre

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although everyone knows that Five Iron Frenzy is the greatest band ever, BS2 is amazing, and all the lil side project dealys are pretty dang good, BUT this cd is simply scrumptrillescent. A couple songs start a bit similarly, but each of them hold their own and...um....blossom into a different and totally sweet song. BYFTM has a bit of everything but the rockin synthesizers can't be beat.

you need this album.

Roper was well worth the wait. This is not just Five Iron Frenzy without the ska. It is definitely a new band. But it also has the wonderful heart-felt, sometimes goofy, and incredibly enjoyable singing and lyrics of Reese Roper. The album has a strong rock feel to it, with some killer synths thrown in, along with amazing guitar (some of the guitar is Ethan Luck of Supertones fame). Check this album out and support a band with heart and great music! It is without hesitation that I give it five stars.

I believe the title explains it all. Go out and buy this cd right now, it's a great cd by any standard, but, taking into consideration that this is the first cd from a brand new group, it transcends every expectation i ever had. Although I did feel Reese's lyrics weren't quite as carefully crafted as in the past, the music more than makes up for this flaw. I have a feeling the next cd will return to the awesomely poetic lyrics of the great Reese Roper and, combined with this fresh, new style that Roper has established, will be rather condescending on bands of this and other genres. "Lord search my heart, create in me something mediocre!"

Hey if you like FIF you'll like these guys too. They are a good band with a good future ahead of them. All the songs on the CD are good. The only problem with some of them is that the refrain is repeated too much. Vocalist Reese Roper brings these songs to soaring heights with his unique voice and great lyric writing skills. People should buy this album. The band needs to stick around for a while:)

I first heard of Roper when I saw them at the Spirit West Coast festival. I was pretty impressed by the singer's (that it Reese Roper's) ability to hit the high notes live, so I went and got the cd. I never listened to much ska before, or Five Iron Frenzy (Roper's old band), so I had no real expectations coming into the album.

I guess the closest thing I could describe the music as is pop-punk, but that's almost a derogatory label where I come from, so we'll just say it's rock. It's pretty good too, I think of it as feel good music with great big sing-along choruses and pretty good lyrics.

There's a bunch of songs that I like a whole lot on the album (You're with stupid, Amplify, 1985, You're still the one) and others that I really like, just not as much (Quicksilver, How your halo fell, Day of pigs, Fireflies). The rest of the songs are pretty good too, but I find myself skipping them to get to the other songs that I just love.

I liked this band so much that I decided to listen to a little bit of FIF, but from the clips I've heard on Amazon it just doesn't do it for me. I guess I'm just more into the rock stuff, or maybe I just need to listen to a few more songs. All I know is that when you listen to Roper it lifts your spirits, which is a good thing.

Once again, Mr. Reese Roper has shown us how talented he truly is. From "Hello Lamewads" to "In Excelsis Deo" we have a mix of rocking songs, some funny and some more serious and thought-provoking. Although some may be disappointed that it misses the horns of FIF you can't complain too much considering it's a...different band... This cd is definitely worth the $11.99 price tag, it's hard to find Christian music anywhere below $15 these days. A big thumbs up to anyone who hears the name Reese and doesn't just think of chocolate and peanut butter.

I was very interested in Roper ever since the fateful and very real (not many false alarms) breakup of Five Iron Frenzy (FIF). I downloaded (very illegally) one mp3 to test it out before ordering, and was intrigued. So I decided to go out on a limb and order this CD.

Some background, I like pop/punk (MxPx, some Blink 182, Rufio, etc) and a wide variety of others. I like energetic music (like the above) or thoughtful/moody music (Coldplay, Nickel Creek). And of course, the all-important FIF, especially their earlier albums. I'm not much of a lyrics person, and normally don't know most of the words to the songs I listen to except for some of the good ones. Most of this review is on musical style.

When I first got this, I was disappointed. I wanted a really creative album with a bunch of good hits, but it seems like most of them were ok (mediocre?) and with just a few slightly better ones. I decided to keep listening. Now, I really love a bunch of them. They all reek of Reece Roper's rougher vocal style... the more edgy, whiny (for lack of a better word) voice rather than the smoother style used in FIF's stuff. You can really see this on track 2, "You're with Stupid"... very rough sounding, though it fits the song.

A lot of the music seems like it was quickly put together, not as refined and a bit methodical; especially the guitar and drums. I'd describe it as a bit standard. However, the real saver are the songs like "Quicksilver", "1985", "How your Halo Fell", "Fireflies", and especially the grand exit and last track, "In Excelsis Deo". The rest of the tracks I could take or leave (and probably leave, they're not my style like the regae/rock n roll "Red Eye to Miami"), but these keepers just dig in and now give me chills.

The tracks I mentioned seem to exude more of the deep passion FIF was known for, and I feel make this album worth it. I'm not much of lyrics person, though I still loved FIF for being passionate and honest (and goofy too). I really appreciate the music behind about half of the Roper album, and can't wait for the second more refined album. However, who knows how long that'll be; from what I've read, this was more of a project or collaboration, not a full fledged band. That's disappointing, as this album has got me excited to see what they could come up with given enough time and refinement. Come one Reece... rope 'em back together and put together a second album, maybe "Our Newest Album Ever"?

I bought this within the first week of its release, highly excited that I finally knew about Reese Roper and friends when he put out an album. Sadly, I came to enjoy Five Iron only after they broke up. Regardless...The album is nice. That's the best word in my opinion: the lyrics are in Reese's usual self-deprecating/personal style that anyone familiar loves, and the music is energetic, catchy, and poppy, but the album seems to be missing the deep stomach that has characterized past albums that Reese has been involved. It is true several of these songs would've been Guerilla Rodeo songs, but they would have had the minds of John Warne, Sonnie Johnston, and Josh Abbot to add to them if they'd have been done under that band's moniker. The album has a good list of musicians contributing, including Ethan Luck (Dingees, O.C. Supertones, Demon Hunter, My Red Hot Nightmare) and Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59) ,but it didn't have any of the current members contributing; Reese was still recruiting them. If you ask the other members of Roper, they say they come from diverse musical backgrounds, much more broad than this album is musically. The album is worth having for those who truly appreciate any project in which Reese Roper is involved. It isn't a bad album, as I said - it's nice. Maybe this album should've been released later, after the members had time to collaborate; who knows. But if Reese and Co. ever get the money they need to record a new album and tour in its support, then look for the diversity of Roper's members to shine through in an album that exceeds the original.

I enjoy all the songs. It's hard to choose favorites. But I'll try: the most mature is probably "Day of Pigs", Ouicksilver follows close behind lyrically.

I'm not saying that this is as good as Roper will ever be, I'm just saying that this CD is as good as it could have been. By that I mean that lots of the material on this CD was stuff that had been written for Reese's other project that never happened, Guerilla Rodeo. On top of that, the band wasn't together at this point, the majority of the work on this record is Reese and Reese alone (with the amazing mixing of Saki).

That said, this album holds up lyrically to it's Five Iron predecessors in almost every way. It uses Reese's background as a child as well as humor and morals in all of the songs. I particularly like "You're with Stupid," "Red Eye to Miami," and "In Excelsis Deo."

Musically, this is very different from Five Iron, no horns at all (since there are no horn players in the band) and largely driven by the "vibrosynth" I think is what it was called, a little keyboard instrument. Overall, it's very catchy, music that you'll hum all day long if it's the last thing you hear in the morning.

This is a good CD, and I highly recommend it. But moreso, I look forward to the next CD that Roper puts out, as it (like Five Iron's albums) will definitely improve on all aspects of this first effort.

The first I had heard of Roper was at Creation East, at the fringe stage. Man, it was crazy. Reese has a rubber chicken attached to his keyboard "I'm going to slap this chicken twice during this song" Some guy showed up dressed as batman, and the security let him jump onto the stage. (Unfortunately nobody caught him when he jumped off...poor guy) It was Reese's birthday, and he smeared his blue icing all over his face reenacting that scene from braveheart. It was insane. These guys are amazing live. Afterwards I bought the CD at the shop by the main stage...I was pretty disappointed.

It seems that some of the enthusiasm is lost listening to the CD. I'm not saying it's dull or they sound bored, the songs just don't appeal to me as much on the CD. The lyrics are humorous in most songs, but somewhat cheesy in others. Altogether worth a listen, but I'm hoping the second Roper is a little better. Keep up the good work Reese & co.