Customer Reviews

Swiss Army Romance

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Screaming Infidelities" (5/5): An amazing song, the first single off of his second record "The Places..."
"The Sharp Hint Of New Tears" (5/5): I can't help but sing along with this song.
"Living In Your Letters" (4/5): Really emotional lyrics about a person the songwriter cares about.
"The Swiss Army Romance" (5/5): The title track is superb. Extremely catchy.
"Turpentine Chaser" (5/5): The bridge of this song is so good it gives me the chills.
"A Plain Morning" (3/5): This is not a bad song, just not great.
"Age Six Racer" (4/5): Really touching lyrics and soft background vocals make this one great.
"Again I Go Unnoticed" (5/5): An intensly emotional tune.
"Ender Will Save Us All" (5/5): Another song that is always stuck in my head, i love it.
"Shirts And Gloves" (4/5): This soft ballad is a winner.
"Hold On" (3/5): I don't know why, but this one doesn't do anything for me.
"This Is A Forgery" (4/5): Kind of different for Dashboard, but not bad at all.
"Hidden Track" (4/5): I enjoy the raw feel of this song.

Chris Carraba's first release as Dashboard Confessional is a great album. It was re-released three years after it came out, now with some bonus tracks. The real gems here are the title track and "Again I Go Unnoticed." There are only like one or possibly two songs that i skip through when listening to this. Great effort overall.

Rating: Four stars.

I brought this album on a prayer that it would be something special and worthwile listening to. Fortunately, I was not remotely disappointed.
The lyrics running throughout the album are intelligent and heartfelt, and the music passionate and excellent.

1) Screaming Infidelities - 5/5. A brilliant track, both lyrically and musically. Sung with real soul, a very moving acoustic tune.

2) The Sharp Hint of New Tears - 5/5 Another excellent track, with again great lyrical and musical talent. Slightly shorter, and more remenicent of their older vein of music.

3) Living in your Letters - 4/5. Though another excellent song, having heard it a few times over it becomes a little old faster than many of the other tracks on the album. An excellent song nevertheless.

4) The Swiss Army Romance - 4/5. The title track doesn't let it down. A good song, though perhaps with a similar problem to track 3.

5) Turpentine Chaser 5/5. Without a doubt my favourite track on the album, great vocal range from Carrabba, best track lyrically; an overall awesome listen.

6) A Plain Morning - 5/5. Great song, a change from the vocal range and passion from Carrabba, moving to a more relaxed, sedated song.

7) Age Six Racer - 5/5. Short and sweet, the song delivers rosy lyrics with a brilliant acoustic accompanyment.

8) Again I go Unnoticed - 4/5. A distinctly more Emo song, the reason I docked a mark from this was because Carrabba had a poor vocal range on this, as he seemed to struggle to reach the top notes.

9) Ender will Save us All - 4/5. An excellent track, mellow but with passionate singing at times. Perhaps a little too long, my attention tends to wonder after the first four minutes of this plus 5 minute song.

10) Shirts and Gloves - 4/5. This would have been 5 out of five, if I could honestly say it was different from track 6. The chords are almost identical, similar sentiments, but nevertheless a good song.

11) Hold On - 5/5. Lovely mellow song, relaxed vocals going over a recurring plucked pattern - very nice indeed.

12) This is a Forgery - 2/5. One of the few tracks I actively dislike on this album. Carrabba's voice is course, the lyrics, though good, are not particuarly disernable above the loud electronic music and drum machine.

Hidden Track - 3/5. Though a good song, it is a little uninspired, and at times a little boring.

If I could give half stars, this album would rest at four and a half stars. An excellent album, this is a must buy for any fan of this genre, or any acoustic fan at all.

Swiss Army Romance was released more or less as Dashboard's first album and it comes off as a heartfelt attempt and not a horrible fake album (like most emo bands).

I like Swiss Army Romance. Yes, it's emo, the music usually sounds the same alot, and most of the songs are about the same things, but there is something deeper in these songs that can usually touch you and not let go. Plus this complete collection of acoustic tracks is much better than any one of Dashboard's other stuff.

All-in-all, I think it's worth listen.

Dashboard Confessional is an amazing band. I don't even know if I can fully support that fact, they are just talented and very insightful. When I listen to this CD, I am completely lost, yet I know exactly where I am. I am just somewhere else inside. I think about everything, and that's what the music does. It is thought-provoking and it is hard to compare to anything else. All of the lyrics are easy to relate to, even though they are written from a male perspective I can still relate to it all.

Okay, about the actual music. Every song has excellent lyrics, and it always seems to be the background music when I want to just sit and think about things. I love the singer's voice, something about it just makes him sound meaningful. He can hit some of the higher notes, but doesn't go out of a range that we can't all sing along to. I always sing to the music... ahhahaha i am usually not so very carefree when I sing. But there is something emotional to this music that makes you feel like you don't have to sound nice to sing it.
I love the fact that it is all pretty much acoustic. I don't know why. I am bad at explaining. . . this is a bad review sorry. :). All I can say is after hearing this CD I was so in love with it. You may be too.

The CD may be my favorite of Dashboard Confessional. The songs are lyrically and vocally beautiful and earnest. My favorite songs are:

2. The Sharp Hint of New Tears- I love, love, love the lyrics of this song, for example: "My sighs they ring victorious and fog this tinted glass... It's clouded, and so is my head."
3. Living in Your Letters- Beautiful song: "I'm living in your letters, breathe deeply from this envelope, it smells like you and I can't be without that scent, it's filling me with all you mean to me."
5. Turpentine Chaser- May very well be my fave, with it's intense lyrics about a relationship- "And the frightening facts we've been facing our backs to for so long now are begging for eyes to bear witness to lies and indifference."

I really like the rest of the songs as well. The only song I don't care for on the extended CD would have to be "This is a Forgery". It seems very un-Dashboard Confessional to me in a musical sense; lyrically it seems to be on target for Chris Carrabba, the singer and writer.

All in all, The Swiss Army Romance is a CD for DC fans or simply for fans with a love for great lyrics and acoustic guitar-driven melodies.

Seems to me, if you don't like the genre of music your reviewing, you have no business reviewing it. Like you won't see me reviewing an album by...I don't know...Shadows Fall or Lamb Of God...cause that kind of music is meaningless, bland, garbage. :)

That being said, this album is a masterpeice. The two "bonus tracks" are pretty much an after-thought, yes. But hey, Vagrant needed to sell the album under their name. You can't blame a band for things that their record companies do. Back on topic, other than that, I absolutely love every song on this album. It's the most rawly(is that a word) emotional album you'll ever hear. It takes courage to put out an album like this, to sing by yourself with only an acoustic guitar in front of thousands of people. The kind of courage that people who who rate this album with one star don't have.

Buy this album if you have at least one sensitive bone in your body and have the ability to feel(yeah, tough right?), you will not be disappointed!

Yea, I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Chris is, by far, one of the most talented singer/songwriters out there. This album just exemplifies that notion. If you're looking for a great album you can sit down and listen to anywhere at any time, this is it. The songs are catchy, well-written, and best of all, none of them are crappy!

You know how when you purchase an album, there might be some throw-away songs? Well, there are none of those on this one! :)

Buy it today! You'll be glad you did.

Okay, so we can all argue about different styles of music. I'm a fan of most, I love anything good. "Metalheads", I've played in 4 regionally succesful metal bands, so I do know whats its about.

This Cd isn't just a few songs, this is a peice of emotion, everytime I hear a song, it's almost as if the feelings I had when I first listened to it, have come back. Chris's lyricist skills have always been wonderful to listen to, and his songwriting on this particular album is almost flawless, the only other comparable album is Ace Enders "I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Buisness", another peice of songwriting genius.

No-one has a style like Chris, so before you're so judgemental, try and think of someone else with the same sound, who has made it as big as him? He's got to be doing something right, don't you think? This is a CD I'll always hold close to my heart. It's the soundtrack to a part of my life that I can remember forever, everytime I put on Swiss Army Romance.

Wow, is all I could really say about this CD. 90 percent of these songs are acoustic solos by Chris Carabba and they are all brilliant. I could relate to most of these songs, which of course deal with heartbreak and the girls associated with them.
The song opens up with....

Screaming Infidelities 9/10 Great song. I prefer this version to the Places you have come to fear the most version. "This bottle of beast is taking me home."

The Sharp Hint of New Tears 9/10 The lyrics are amazing. I can totally relate to this song. Driving in a car, your only escape from the real world, where you have time to think and reflect and of course cry. Tonight I think I'll take the long way home.

Living in Your Letters. 8.5/10 A story of a sad long distance relationship.

The Swiss Army Romance. 9/10 I love this song. It's about a college girl who is so fake and superficial that underneath all of that is something much better. I'd like to see you undone.

Turpentine Chaser. 7/10 I still don't understand what this song is about, but the acoustic guitar is amazing in this one.

A Plain Morning. 10/10 Easily my favorite song on this album. This song is so well written and performed. The female who contributes the back-up vocals is amazing. This song is about longing, homesickness, and the desire to come home to the open arms of your loved one. A great song a soldier overseas can dedicate to his wife back home. Very sad indeed.

Age Six Racer. 8/10 An okay song. I love the last section of the song where he sings "I hate the winter in Lexington."

Again I go Unnoticed. 8.5/10 I prefer this version to the Places you have come to fear the most version. This song is about a girl who dismisses all romantic advances. That sucks!!!

Ender will Save us All. 8/10 Second longest song on the album and it carries itself well.

Shirts and Gloves. 9/10 Short but sweet song. "It seems that day keeps falling on a leap year." Great lyrics.

Hold On and This is a Forgery.---These two songs should never have been added. They are completely out of place. This is a Forgery is absolutely horrid, and don't even get me started on the hidden track. WTF was that?

The album starts of strong with 4 great songs, mellows out in the middle with very downbeat and depressing songs and then closes it out terribly. Overall, this album is my favorite DC album.

I have only been a Dashboard fan for a couple of years (which is actually as long as the've been around, so I guess i've been a fan since the beginning), but I can say w/o a doubt that this is their/his best release ever. Here are my rankings for all the great songs.

1) Screaming Infidelities - 5/5
2) The Sharp Hint Of New Tears - 5/5
3) Living In Your Letters - 4.6/5
4) The Swiss Army Romance - 4.3/5
5) Turpentine Chaser - 4/5
6) A Plain Morning - 5/5
7) Age Six Racer - 5/5
8) Again I Go Unnoticed - 4.9/5
9) Ender Will Save Us All - 4/5
10) Shirts & Gloves - 4/5
11) Hold On - 5/5
12) This Is A Forgery - 5/5
13) Untitled (Hidden Track) - 3.7/5

I can't wait until A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar comes out in July!!!