Customer Reviews

Very Emergency

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The guys in this band sound like they're trying to get it right.

The only thing wrong with this record is that it is too consistent, too catchy, too accomplished, too well done, too straightforward, too well produced, too upbeat, too hummable, too much of culmination of everything they've done before, too overlooked by the record buying public, too much of a sunny day with nothing to do but drink beer and look at the grass grow and the sun shine (although it's 3 below outside).

The Promise Ring finally got it totally right. If this record was 10 minutes longer it would bore with it's perfection. Their last few records were consistent in that they had a few really great melodic and poppy, punkish songs with some, slower, tossaways. This one charges through and only fails in being so "finished" and so dang right.

Great band, great record.

The Promise Ring are really elusive. Months of listening to "Nothing Feels Good" left me a thousand miles away from where I was the first time I heard it, and it's that kind of effect that plants me firmly in the ground as a huge fan of theirs. I like what alot of people have said in their reviews because I totally agree and still wonder, how can music be both happy and sad at the same time? I don't know, but TPR do things that I don't think *anyone* can do half as well.

Okay, so what about "Very Emergency"? Hmmm, kinda seems like straight-up pop music to me. But wait, who cares? Really what it comes down to is the sound, and the sound here is highly listenable. "Catchy" is kind of like the tip of the iceberg, humming these toons for hours after hearing them is unavoidable. In my optinion, though, these tracks get a bit too easy to like...there's no challenge here, the word "raw" doesn't come into play ~ night and day compared to these guys' earlier efforts. Without any kind of challenge, music tends to get boring pretty quickly, which is probably why I haven't listened to this disc much lately.

3/5 compared to their earlier stuff, but I'm still a fan and am forever keeping my fingers crossed that these guys will play in my neighborhood someday soon...

Despite the most annoying genre name to ever hit music, emo has progressed (or digressed, whichever way you look at it) to this. Although Davey said in an article I read somewhere that this was the exact album they wanted to make (which I can respect), it just didn't have the energy I wished it had.

Not to say that the Promise Ring was *the* focal point of all emo, but from Cap'n Jazz to this, I suppose he has come a long way.

The album is certainly straight-rock, the lyrics are contrived and deliberate, as opposed to a lot of the charming gibberish he used to write. "Skips a Beat (Over You)" kind of makes me sick to my stomach, but that's really the only song I have to skip on the album.

In any case, the album falls short of my expectations as a Promise Ring album. I thought to myself, "Would I still buy this if it weren't the Promise Ring?" Well, the answer my friend is no. That is to say, if you're into this for the emo cred. it won't get you your heart on your sleeve. If you're into it for the rock'n'roll (forgive my sarcasm), then you might like it.

It's *not* a bad album. Just very different and needs a little warming to, as long as you forget that the same guy that wrote "We'd know what to do when I'm shaking in my shoes, my heart skips a beat over you." used to write "Her eyes eager for Indians, down the ferry with...." Two absolutely unrelated lines, but with the subtlety in the second, it's seemingly more pointed. However that works.

I had never been a big fan of The Promise Ring. Their previous efforts never impressed me. They weren't terrible, but found them very dull. Heck, I can't even remember what inspired me to buy this CD, since I didn't like thier other stuff. I think I read reviews praising the album and just picked it up as an impulse buy. Anyhow, when I listened to it I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Catchy, poppy songs that stick in your head....right up my alley...and they were from Milwaukee. It was nice to see a band from Brew Town besides the Femmes and the BoDeans get some national recognition.

This CD is excellent from Happiness is All The Rage to the final fading verses of All of My Everything. I have read that the Promise Ring hates being painted with the dreaded "Emo" paintbrush and this album helps distance them from the drab and tired Emo scene from which they emerged.

As my review title reveals...I have had this CD for almost 3 years and I still pull it out about once a month or more. It is a very hard CD to get sick of.

Much-improved vocals. I could've stood a little more variety on the guitar work though. Catchy stuff to sing along to. Jenny from Tsunami sings back-ups on some tracks, which was an added bonus. Worth checking out.

pop? yes. emo? no. good thing? absolutely. but this is just dull. Sure, davey can sing better, but there's nothing to lead me to believe that they finished writing the songs...it just rolls from one catchy but not-so-interesting part to the other. True, at least its not hoover-esque emo sludge, but if you want to call it pop, it ain't the Jam, either.

The TPR's third album "Very Emergency" is just littered with catchy pop sounds, just like "Nothing Feels Good" but to a much higher degree! I have this on vinyl and all the songs on side one(first five tracks) are some of my favorite songs to sing along with ever. Yeah, you'll be singing these songs for a long time and be singing them constantly in your head or out loud in your car. This album reminds me of early Weezer. There is something about the guitars that sounds sweet also and the funny lyrics aren't absent that TPR used in their earlier releases.

Wow! TPR really deliver the full package on this album IMHO. Davey's voice sounds better, good catchy songs, same strange lyrics, and every thing we love TPR for is packed on this record. One more thing to say......Wisconsin ROCKS. WHEW!!

Okay, THE PROMISE RING has become one of my favorite band as of this writing (Sept.2002), largely due to their amazing poppy-rocky album, Very Emergency. I'm sure you have read how hooky and catchy the album is...well it's true. It's not only that but all so very much melodious! Hummable and rockable at the same time. I want to jump around bopping to the tunes. Very ear-friendly and touching, almost naive yet reassuring. It's been 3 years since the release, I still listen to it. I feel very happy when I listen to the album...

hard to find an American band these days that is able to create such simply, beautiful and heart-felt pop songs. This record is a bit on the pop side of their spectrum (vs say, Nothing Feels Good, which is somewhat heavier) but it is a great direction for them to show off their great hooks and pop-chops.

This record really picked me up when i needed it.

The Promise Ring are all I've been hearing about lately in the underground music scene, probably because they are frontrunners in that emo stuff now. They are very happy, and I enjoy that fact more than anything else. They are great guys, put on great shows, and make great CDs. This is not in my CD player a lot because there is not a lot of punk in it, but it is good to hear sometimes with its power pop chords and choruses. Davey has a fairly good vocal, and, like most emo vocals, is pretty moving. There is far more pop associated with this music, but it doesn't really matter, the music is good. I like "Happiness Is All The Rage" and "Emergency! Emergency!" the best. Also check out Weezer.