The Black Parade [Original recording]

My Chemical Romance | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 31, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording
• Label: Warner Brothers
• ASIN: B000I5Y8ZU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (321 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,335 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The End.

2. Dead!

3. This Is How I Disappear

4. The Sharpest Lives

5. Welcome To The Black Parade

6. I Don't Love You

7. House Of Wolves

8. Cancer

9. Mama

10. Sleep

11. Teenagers

12. Disenchanted

13. Famous Last Words

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has alternately described his band's third album as "completely over the top" and "borderline psychotic." But even those words can't adequately prepare fans of the group's 2004 platinum major-label debut, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, for the onslaught of twisted song suites, glam-rock cannon fire and drama-club theatrics that make up The Black Parade. Tracks like "Mama" and "The End" make "Bohemian Rhapsody" sound like "Blitzkrieg Bop." It's no coincidence that the disc feels as dizzyingly monumental as Green Day's American Idiot--after all, the two albums share the same label, producer, studio, janitorial team, and sense of apocalyptic dread. Similarly, The Black Parade will cast its creators in a completely new light. Despite its overly histrionic tendencies and a totally oddball cameo from Liza Minelli, it offers a clear signal that My Chemical Romance is ready to be taken seriously. --Aidin Vaziri

Product Description

The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance's follow-up to its 2004 platinum major-label debut Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, "is way more dramatic, way more theatrical, completely over the top, borderline psychotic," says Gerard Way. "It's the most pure, intense thing we've ever been involved in." Producer by Rob Cavallo (Green Day), the album is a celebration of lvoe and death and darkness. Join The Black Parade.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning Achievement October 24, 2006

By Matthew Lingo

Format:Audio CD

I'll be the first to admit it: I was not a fan of My Chemical Romance. This was exactly the type of band I had taken to ignoring; it sounded like pop-punk, so it had to be worthless in my eyes. My Chemical Romance was nothing more than a derivative band with no identity, a group who were more interesting in vampires and selling T-Shirts than in crafting essential music. My disinterest was such that when told by a friend that the new single (the epic "Welcome to the Black Parade") was actually good, I distractedly listened to the first three minutes and said I liked them. After all, I couldn't be missing much, could I?

It turns out that I was missing a lot, and in writing this, I'm going to eat my words. It was easy to dismiss My Chemical Romance before, but now it will be impossible. With The Black Parade, an urgent, passionate, insane, awesome piece of music, this band has become essential to the musical landscape. This is an album for the ages.

The Black Parade is a concept album, and tells the story of a man known only as The Patient, a victim of cancer. The album starts with the Patient's death, spends its midsection ruminating on the life he left behind, and ends with his good-byes. It's a hugely ambitious work, and it would have been so easy for it to implode into a sloppy, incoherent mish-mash of "sensitive", junior high level poetry and forgettable power chords.

That's the kind of thing the old MCR would do. It's what characterized their first two albums, their Goth-oriented fashion sense, everything about them. But that's the thing about this album: more than anything, it's a coming out for the new My Chemical Romance--a glorious, unapologetically theatrical behemoth.... The Black Parade of the title is as much a celebration of this new sound as it is a rite of passage for the deceased protagonist.

Here we see MCR dipping their toe into all sorts of musical styles. "Mama" starts out as a baroque number reminiscent of The Decemberists, before evolving into an exuberantly nasty cabaret number (complete with a cameo by Liza Minelli). "Teenagers" is a throwback to some of the best punk rock of the 70's. The lyrics may not exactly be poetry, but they don't have to be. The juxtaposition between the bombastic grandiosity of the musical arrangements themselves and the direct, bruising quality of the lyrics (Cancer's icky "I'm soggy from the chemo" sticks in the mind) make for a sort of abrasive splendor; this is possibly the most triumphant album about death and dying that has ever been recorded.

None of this would matter of course, if the music itself wasn't up to snuff. Here, frontman Gerard Way reveals a previously untapped musicianship, an ability to make the hugeness of The Black Parade's sound remain fresh through the use of diverse instrumentation and irresistible hooks (something The Killers failed to do in their similarly anthemic but overcooked sophomore album). It isn't every band that manages not only to stick a tra-la-la sing-along at the end of a song song, but dare you not to sing along with it.

And now, as the Patient joins his Black Parade, as the hype dies down, as the implications of this astounding achievement make themselves known, questions arise: was it a fluke? Did My Chemical Romance always have this untapped potential? And, perhaps most importantly: what's next? All I have to say is this: Gerard, the ball is in your court.

10/10 Read more ›

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pop music? What do you mean by pop music? December 3, 2006

By Ryan Webb

Format:Audio CD

Some people crack me up; punk rock is over thirty years old and we hear the same old arguments. They are selling out! It's poppy! WTF? Punk music CREATED what "pop" music would become--it was a way to sell mediocre bands for massive amounts of money, a.k.a. the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. And do not even try to argue that these later bands were musically talented. They were fun, but they were not Mozart. God. So please, do not even bring these "sell out" arguments into analyzing The Black Parade.

MCR was out to sell an album, but they were out to sell a GOOD album; they were out to make a musical composition. The Black Parade flows, and it all works together. It is not one or two good songs and a bunch of filler. It has a theme, and the music is correlated and emotional. Is it as dark as their other tunes? Probably not, but who the hell cares? Why do we have to be "as dark" in our music as humanly possible? What's wrong with a little bit of sweet melancholy?

Music isn't about being an identity or a culture. It's about making music. If it sells records, it doesn't mean its a bad album either. If you can listen to The Black Parade five times in a row and still not have it memorized, and still find yourself impacted emotionally, its a five star album. I think I've listened to this piece 8 or 9 times and I'm still loving it. So Buy it. Or download it. Whatever you do, don't knock on it because it wasn't what you expected.

If it wasn't what you expected that should be a GOOD thing. It means a band is experimenting, and MCR is taking this in a good direction. They're more developed than they used to be, and they're more musically complex. If a band isn't experimenting, they're dead.

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful. October 25, 2006

By Shannon Wright

Format:Audio CD

Okay, I'll be the first to admit... I had my hopes that this album would be amazing, but at the same time I couldn't bring myself to believe that My Chemical Romance could possibly exceed both of their previous albums. After I heard the rumors that the new CD's title would be "The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance", my hopes kind of fell into a rather large hole. You'd be amazed to know how something as small as a CD title can affect my brain--it seems silly, but I began to not expect much from them.

Finally, I heard about The Black Parade... my hopes skyrocketted because I started hearing more and more good things about the album. And upon purchasing it yesterday, it has not left my home, car, and work CD player. It's on constant repeat. I'm so, so, so happy to say that I was not disappointed by MCR. This album has only served to increase my absolute love of this band.

Okay. They've changed their sound. The music isn't as dark... but the LYRICS. The lyrics are still MCR. They still scream bloody murder WE. ARE. MY. CHEMICAL. ROMANCE. Even if the music or Gerard's voice are both different from their first two albums, who cares? The band is growing. I happen to like Three Cheers and Bullets equally. I don't think MCR would want to sound the same time after time after time... To me, an album is an expression of where you are in life at that particular moment. The lyrics and music SHOULD reflect this, and it shouldn't matter if it's creating a different sound or not. MCR's music is just about as much for them as it is for their fans, if not more. We should remember this as fans of their music and not write them off as complete has-beens because they've been featured on MTV one too many times. Just because they have a new sound DOES NOT mean they've sold out....

I digress. The effort put into this album is apparent from the very beginning as you tear off the wrapping and take your first glimpse at the album's enchantingly beautiful artwork. The amount of work that went into creating this concept must've been brilliant--it just looks perfect. The music itself gives off this air of being reborn, or that no matter what situation you're in, there's always hope for you. That death (The Black Parade?) is something to never fear because it's only the beginning of something new. The lyrics still speak to us of death and darkness and blood, but, again, they give us faith. We'll make it through this thing we call life. Death isn't as scary as you think. Don't worry anymore.

I just want to say, this album is a great way to start off as an MCR fan. If you've never listened to them before, or only heard one or two songs off their other albums--now's your chance to hear one of the best things they've ever done. You won't be disappointed. I promise. Read more ›