Customer Reviews

Lifetime

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

 

 

For long time fans this is a dream come true. I know some purists are mad that they are on Decaydance, and some are mad that they came back at all. It's all just jealousy and punk rock politics. I've been a fan since I saw them live in 1995 because I went to see another band play. I've long stopped listening to the band I went to see, but I've been a Lifetime fan ever since.

This new release is everything I was hoping it would be. The guys haven't lost a beat. It's fast, powerful, energetic, and very catchy. While I've heard some complain about this, I think that the better production and recording on LIFETIME just serves to increase the clearity and boost the richness of the overall sound. It was recorded by the same engineer, Steve Evetts, that produced Lifetimes two previous fan favorite albums HELLO BASTARDS, & JERSEY'S BEST DANCERS.

Simply put, if you liked their old stuff, you will like this just as much. Maybe even more, because the sound quality is so much better, and these songs are atleast as good, if not better than anything they've written before. (okay, it's not "better" but still just as good as many of your old favorites).

This is my favorite straight up "punk" album to come out since last years Oh! Calcutta! by the Lawrence Arms.

Some of my favorite songs so far are:
03. Just A Quiet Evening
10. All Nite Long
02. Airport Monday Morning
01. Northbound Breakdown
04. Haircuts & T-shirts
11. Records at Nite
08. Try & Stay Awake
That's almost the whole album, and I've only been listening to it for 3 days!

Ten years later, Lifetime reunite and bring us a new album. Thanks to Steve Evetts, (aside from the bass guitar), this album sounds fantastic and punchy. Musically, the boys didn't add in nearly as many subtle one-liner riffs and octave chords. But after 10 years, it sounds like the next logical album for Lifetime as if it were released only 2 years after Jersey's Best Dancers. It sounds to Jersey's as that did coming from Hello Bastards (if that makes sense). Ari's lyrics are still kind of satyrical, but aren't as clever. Scott's drumming is at his best. They didn't write any super stand-out tracks in either the fast or slow field (such as Danuerysm, Rodeo Clown, Young Loud and Scotty, and Brunswick Basement Show). Highlight tracks are Northbound Breakdown, Try And Stay Awake, and Records At Nite (which has some single notage such as Knives Tats did). This kind of has a feel of a band that reunited for the hell of it, and made a product to go along. But this is not their best effort, and sounds like they didn't try to make it their best effort. Its still pretty good, and better than almost any punk album that has come out since the year 2000. Why they let the Fall Out Boy guy release this is beyond me (and loses some respect). But what can I say? Despite my complaints, I have listened to this on repeat. And their 2007 show in San Francisco was way better and more genuine than in 2006.

I didn't know what to expect from this release. I was scared to listen to it because I didn't want to hate it. I admittedly was harboring some negative feelings toward their whole "reunion"; it seemed so cliche, and I never wanted to think of Lifetime in that light. "Oh, great, they are just trying to cash in", I thought to myself. I was so wrong (shame on me). While listening to this record, I really did feel like I was 17 again. What a breath of fresh air this record is for the current state of affairs in the music biz and the "emo craze" that is the red-headed step-child of the sound that Lifetime themselves worked to pioneer. They have further polished their sound from "Jersey's Best Dancers" (I didn't think that was possible), and have created something that should please the older fans and maybe catch the ear of a few new ones. Frontman Ari hasn't lost a step with his simple, poignant lyrics that are barely understandable in that perfect way and the music is as tight, fast, and loud as ever. It goes without saying that this record is not as good as "Hello Bastards", but it's a solid peice of work through and through (If you're a diehard fan of "Background", you may think differently). I highly recommend picking this up and singing along in the car to tracks like "Northbound Breakdown" and "Just a Quiet Evening".

Lifetime was one of those bands that really touched many people, myself included. They were that band that you listened to when you had a crush on someone and you walked or rode a bike around and thought of that person that had a grip on your heart. You could find comfort in their music whether it worked out or the love was unrequited. Having such lofty praise heaped upon a band of course makes the expectations for the first album in a long time. The album is Not Jerseys Best, or Hello Bastards but it is pretty damn good. I wanted to secretly hate it for having an affiliation with Fall out Boy. Try as I might to dislike it and be disappointed , Ari and the boys brought me back to a day I often long for before emo/punk was all over the tv and the mall. The songs have that classic lifetime feel to them and are fast and catchy. The biggest complaint would be that the album is too short. I find myself listening to it multiple times cause I don't want it to end. I was skeptical about the whole reunion thing but after having seen them, i'm over it. They were much more into it then they were any of the times I saw them back in the day. Get the album and love it.

There is often a stigma associated with the reunion album - people are generally left thinking if the band can actually live up to their former esteem and make an album that doesn't just make one nostaglic but enthralls the listener...i am happy to say, Lifetime's new self-titled album - does just that. It's hard to believe that Jersey's Best Dancers came out ten years ago taking that the band sounds like they could have put this album out right after they put out JBD. Lifetime (album) is filled with catchy pop-punk Yemin guitar hooks and Ari's introspective lyrics - Its refreshing to hear something like this after the scene's recent domination (or drowning out) of the youth crew revival sound. Thank you Lifetime, you surpassed my expectations.

It's the Lifetime we know and love, rocking out to the sound they helped created. Can you dig it?

This album is good, you know I'm being an honest man when I tell you this. Though it always bums me out when bands get back together, luckily they didn't soil thier name with this new joint, indeed it's got the catchiness of Jersey's Best Dancers which is something I can totally dig. Yet it seems as if you know maybe this is something that is sort of had it's time you know? I always expected that man, if only I liked this guys when I was in in Jr. High maybe then I'd get to see them play, yeah it's excited that I just might get the chance to see them but in a way it feels inauthentic as if I wasn't really THERE, just making up for lost time. 10 years from now I won't really see as a badge of pride claiming I bought this album the week it came out, unlike other fools who can say the same about Hello Fatherless Sons (damned internet filter) or Background. So, in other words it's good but it isn't a step above Jersey's Best and I didn't like the linear notes, but that's just me. So enjoy kids, we are all getting older let us celebrate yout' in a way that is quite satisfying...

"hello bastards" and "jersey's best dancers" are widely considered classics in the hardcore/emo/whatever genre. and rightly so, i'd say. this new album would also be a classic, if it had immediately followed JBD. but, 10 or so years later, i'm not sure this sound is as relevant as it once was. countless bands have come along and picked at lifetime's caracass since then, using what they found to write their own records, some good, some bad, very few great). for lifetime to come back and do the same thing they used to do, albeit well, is just something i'm not interested anymore. but i would not be a bit suprised if the younger generation can find this as exciting as i found these guys years ago. the musical and lyrical styles maintain the same feeling as the older stuff, and always really spoke to people.
so, older fans might be more likely to be skeptical, but younger fans of this sound shouldn't be disappointed. after all, the melodies of the first two tracks have been stuck in my head alot lately.