Customer Reviews

Them VS. You VS. Me

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

As much as I wanted to love this CD, I couldn't. I guess I need to come to terms on the fact that Finger Eleven will never make another album like their 2000 release, The Greyest of Blue Skies. In 2003 I ran to the store on the release date of their self titled album only to be disappointment in their change of sound. To be fair though, that CD has grown on me quite a bit over the years... but still it's not what I wanted. Enter Them Vs. You Vs. Me. An album that resembles very little to any of Finger Eleven's past work... This is a good or bad thing depending on the listener. The album starts off strong.. Paralyzer and Falling On, as trendy as they are, are very memorable. Then the album just turns into generic alternative rock. Track after track of radio friendly songs and more acoustic tracks thrown in. The ending track (F11 usually has a very meaningful last track on their albums) almost sounds like a joke. Finger Eleven continue to evolve.. but just what are they evolving into..? This CD wasn't worth the near 4 year wait in my opinion. Finger Eleven can do much better.. and will again, i hope

I rarely take the time to write a review for an item, but I was so surprised when I heard this cd I felt compelled to write a warning. As another reviewer notes, this album is nothing like their previous work. You can call it "reinvention" or "selling out" or pressure from their label: it's all the same. This cd is chock full of ridiculous poppy backbeats and obvious, trite lyrics. If this cd tried any harder to gain mass appeal, they would have had to change the title to "Radio Friendly."

For all the effort made to boilerplate this album, there isn't a single song I genuinely liked. There are a few places where it seems like the old Finger Eleven is going to come out and temper the new, top40 Finger Eleven, but it never quite makes it. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed.

Ok, lets get this out of the way real quick: Them vs. You vs. Me is NOT Tip, nor is it Greyest of Blue Skies, nor is it Finger Eleven: Self Titled...it is Them vs. You vs. Me. At first listen I, like many other people, started wondering after about 5 tracks if this was actually Finger Eleven. This record is not bad, it's different, and depending how you look at it, being different can be good or it can be bad. Finger Eleven will lose fans with this record, however let me be the first to point out one thing: Each F11 cd sounds different. No one can ever say F11 released "4 albums that all sounded the same", which you could say with alot of bands, perhaps those with an established sound. So with that said, I would be hard pressed to find many people that like the sound of all the records, however you have to give it to a band that it willing to use new sounds and expand their horizons.

I don't think this record is "radio friendly", and I think the lyrics are still meaningful and thoughtful, as they have always been with F11. If this record was "radio friendly" then all the songs would sound like "one thing", which was their mainstream radio hit. I would say the closest to "one thing" is "i'll keep your memory vague" which is a good ballad if i must say.

I'm still listening to this cd and allowing it to grow on me, and I think it will. My advice to anyone who has not heard F11 before "one thing" or "paralyzer" is to pick up Greyest of Blue Skies, and to not expect this record to sound entirely like "paralyzer". To those who have heard F11 before, judge this record as a new entity..NOT in comparison to their previous work.

I bought this album (like most people I would guess) because I enjoyed the song "Paralyzer" so much. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is nowhere near the intensity of this opening track. The remaining songs are mostly slow or mid-tempo and definitely do not rock as hard. In fact in some places I heard a Fall Out Boy like tone which is definitely not something I am interested in and if I had known I wouldn't have bought the album. If you really like "Paralyzer" I recommend you just download that song somewhere and leave the album for the hardcore fans.

It's not that this album doesn't sound like anything they've done previously - I enjoy creativity and variety in everything I listen to. However, this album is just really lacking something and seems very derivative, especially when you consider how interesting their other three efforts were. All the soul seems to have gone out of this band, they're going through the motions but it's just not registering or breaking through. Let's hope the next album has something worth listening to.

I love Paralyzer.. it has a harder sound to it which I was hoping to hear on the rest of the album. Unfortunately, I only liked the first track and found the rest to be a bit of a disappointment. Seems like "Paralyzer" should have been done by Disturbed. The only reason I gave the album a 2 was because it has one song I can't get enough of. Otherwise, it's a zero. Generic and poor lyrics = radio friendly. Not what I'm looking for.

I'd heard some of Finger Eleven's earlier work, and thought there was some potential there. When "Paralyzer" started playing, I really liked the sound, picked it up, and played the CD on the way home.
It was something of a let down, as the CD was not cohesive and no other songs stood up to the expectations the single created.
The album's not BAD, it's just BLAND.
I'd say stick to the single.

With the exception of the first song, "Paralyzer", this whole album felt completely generic. It sounds like I've heard this album a dozen times before by other artists, and little was added to this one to make it unique at all. Very disappointed by this purchase.

I'm a new fan and picked this one up the day it came out because of Paralyzer. I listened for a couple weeks and liked it a lot, then I put it away so I didn't get burned out on it.

I listened again today driving from Philly to DC and really paid attention. Aside from the myriad classic rock influences that can be heard and the solid musicianship, this disc is quite the concept album. Best one I've heard in a long time and I'm very, very rarely impressed by new musical offerings. I understand that this may not be the same sound as their previous offerings but I really don't care. This is good music.

5 stars!

This is my first exposure to Finger Eleven. I bought this CD because of Paralyzer, a good track. I have read some of the other reviews on this production, and I am perplexed. Perhaps being my first exposure without a comparison of previous works. But, that is not how I work. Read my other reviews and you'll see how I work. This is a good CD. I will enjoy it periodically throughout the years to come. It is not the greatest thing to ever grace my ears, yet I was satisfied with my buy, and did not feel as though I were cheated. Check out "Gather & Give", or any of the other tracks on this CD, but take them for what they are, don't compare them to previous works. You're only disappointing yourself if you expect the same thing every time they put out a CD.