Customer Reviews

Under The Boards

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

 

 

If you are or have ever been a fan of Saves the Day, I would recommend their new one. It's a bit more mature than their last effort, "Sound the Alarm". As Songwriter Chris Coneley says, Its some of the hardest and poppiest songs of their career at the same time. Its not as many sing-a-long tracks like some of their older records, but certainly not one to miss. Don't expect "Stay What You Are", expect a good follow-up to "Sound the Alarm", which is apparently the first part in this trilogy.

For anybody that remembers Face to Face releasing the album "Ignorance is Bliss" back in 1999, you probably also remember what it felt like to have a band seemingly abandon you by writing completely new material. I hated IiB when it first came out, but I figured it was penned by one of my favorite bands, and I should give it a shot. I made myself sit down and listen to the whole thing two or three times, and by the end of the third go-around I realized that I loved the music, although it had moved past my preferred genre of mid-1990's power-pop-punk (or whatever you want to call it).

I had a lot of the same feelings about Saves the Day's In Reverie. I think, for a lot of us who grew up with Can't Slow Down and Through Being Cool, In Reverie was simply too far outside of the scope of the band at first blush. I had to wait fully a year before the final track of the album, Tomorrow Too Late, sunk in and I realized that I had been missing out on some great music because it wasn't what I had been expecting.

So, with that in mind, I've kept my mouth shut about this album for around three years while I've been making up my mind.

First off: the album is good. It's not StD's best effort; Conley's eternal melodrama is wearing a bit thin, although his imagery and lyricism remains as brilliant as ever. The musicianship is what stands out most here. Picking up Glassjaw's rhythm section didn't hurt the group at all, and the bass lines work seamlessly with the drumming throughout. Most of the songs are well-crafted, with a few standout disappointments (Woe being the best example of the filler material required when writing album trilogies).

Second: possibly the best part about being a Saves the Day fan is seeing them live. A lot of bands that sound great in the studio sound terrible on stage. Fortunately, StD isn't one of them. For Under the Boards, the songwriting is tailored much more towards being reproduction live without problems. It's always frustrated me to see Conley start off songs like Rocks Tonic Juice Magic at a concert, and know (via experience) that the layered coda of the song will be missing the harmonized second melody. Under the Boards doesn't suffer from this problem, as there is virtually no vocal harmony anywhere on the album. There are a couple of quick thirds here and there, but nothing approaching the Lifetime/Bad Religion influences of the band's first two albums.

Finally, and this is geared more towards the other reviews on here, I don't understand people saying that they loved Through Being Cool but hated Sound the Alarm. StA remains, in my opinion, the best Saves the Day album produced since Through Being Cool, and that is precisely because it's fast and aggressive. As much as Conley has distanced himself from his New Jersey/punk/Lifetime roots, it's still his best music, and it showed through on Sound the Alarm. But Sound the Alarm this album is not, and it doesn't need to apologize for it. The hooks are there, the landscape of Conley's f*****-up brain is vividly present, and (to be blunt) the album rocks. And this album is not In Reverie, either. Much like In Reverie was a hard swing to (effectively) art rock after Stay What You Are's catchy pop, Under the Boards is moves away from Sound the Alarm. Those kind of perpendicular moves are difficult to handle, even after a band like StD has done it a few times.

To tie back into my opening line, after touring with Trever Keith and his gang, Chris Conley said in an interview that Saves the Day "is not Face to Face." What he meant was that he didn't want to write the same album over and over. While I disagree that Face to Face did that (see Ignorance is Bliss as the strongest evidence), Conley's point makes sense. Nobody wants to get stale, but you can't piss off your fan base too much either. Under the Boards is a good example at balancing Saves the Day's past and future. It doesn't sound quite like any of their other albums, but it's not completely alien.

And, in the meantime, the music is only a few clicks away from achieving greatness. Something tells me I'm not going to need to wait three years to make up my mind when Daybreak comes out.

Many Saves the Day detractors have complained about this band ever since In Reverie (which was a great album in my opinion) was released, and is completely unjustified. StD remains one of the best bands out there because they are a not a static group of musicians; each album they make is unique. Discontent with simply releasing music that is the same as past efforts, StD evolves with each release and with Under the Boards has created their strongest album since Stay What You Are.

Under the Boards starts off with the title song and sets the theme for the album with its dark mood. "Radio" follows and continues the atmosphere, albeit with more pop than the heavy "Under the Boards". "Can't Stay the Same" could easily be a hit single on the radio; it is incredibly catchy. However, the song stands out slightly from the rest of the album because of how poppy it is. Saves the Day returns to the darker theme with "When I'm Not There". "Lonely Nights" is a nice deviation with the piano. It starts off as a ballad of sorts, and then kicks into a heavier rock, which really makes this song exceptional. By far the most pop influenced song, "Bye Bye Baby" breaks up the melodrama that would've occurred and dragged the album if "Stay" had followed "Lonely Nights". Following all the pop and slow acoustic, "Getaway" marks the final part of Under the Boards, which is much heavier rock that harkens back to Can't Slow Down. Some songs like "Kaleidoscope" and "Woe" are even harder than Sound The Alarm. The album finishes with "Turning Over in My Tomb" which completes the theme Saves the Day set out to create. It almost feels like it could be the second half of "Under the Boards".

This really is a great album, and the atmosphere that permeates throughout is exemplified by the album art. Taking a drive at night is perfectly complemented by a listen of Under the Boards. Almost any fan can find a song to like on this album, as the songs are varied and distinct; this isn't an album you play, and later you realize that the song you were listening to was over ten minutes ago.

Although it as a far stretch from the old Saves the Day that we all know and love, I feel that this is their best release by far in a long time. I love the feel, I love the lyrics, I love the guitars, the drums are perfect, etc. I even think the front cover is wonderful. Highly recommended.

Saves The Day is constantly changing from album to album. This album sounds like a mix of all of their albums to me and I love it. I love all of their albums respectively but this one has definitely made a special place at the top of the list after only a few listens. Lots of different tracks with a similar theme and vibe. If you want heavy, light, catchy, obscure, and everything in between, this record has it. If you like more than 1 STD record, go get it!

Saves the Day was a plucky, angsty, nerdy teen acting out on Can't Slow Down, Stay What You Are and Through Being Cool. They became the kind of serious, crooning poet you see in a bar drinking heavily and complaining about their ex-wife on In Reverie, Sounds the Alarm, Under the Boards and Daybreak (although In Reverie appears to have been sipping absinthe). It took me a long time to like In Reverie, much of it spent like some character in the Da Vinci Code forcing myself to listen to it while telling me "there must be something there, this is Saves the Day". It took a while of forced listening to tolerate Sound the Alarm and Daybreak (easier for the latter than the former). But no matter how much i try, i just can't like Under the Boards. It's not bad, it's just really, really boring. Looking at my rating list, it's the only StD album where every song is rated a 3.

Overall, this album is a lot better than their previous outing Sound The Alarm. The tracks are far less obnoxious and less bland while the lyrics are very good and similar to the older Saves The Day lyrics you'd find in albums like Stay What You Are and Through Being Cool. The musical style is also much more similar to the older albums, at least compared to In Reverie and Sound The Alarm. However, there isn't a whole lot to remember this album for overall. It's a solid album, but no songs really jump out at you as exceptional. I'd say the best three songs are Can't Stay The Same, Radio, and Stay and while the rest are solid they're kind of forgettable.

I haven't liked Saves the Day since STay WHat you are...The last couple have been boring..But I recently Downloaded this album and really enjoy almost every song. not perfect but good for new STD.

If you're a fan of the old stuff and got excited at the prospect of them getting back to their roots at the release of "Sound the Alarm" this album disappoints by going back the other direction. It's still a good listen.

I had given up on STD after Sound The Alarm, which I couldn't listen too. So I didn't even realize they had a new record out until just a few days ago. The new album is a pleasant surprise. Its not Through Being Cool or Stay What You Are, but as a body of work I give it 5 stars.