Worse for the Wear

New Amsterdams

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 5, 2003)
• Original Release Date: August 5, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vagrant Records
• ASIN: B0000AKY13
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #114,868 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It seems unfair to compare the New Amsterdams with frontman Matthew Pryor's other band, the Get Up Kids. But the parallels are undeniable. Even though this is formerly his singer-songwriter project, much of his main band's emo-pop enthusiasm spills over into the upbeat arrangements and bright melodies. The feeling of Americana that comes across on Worse for the Wear, Pryor's third album under the New Amsterdams name, is not like that of, say, Ryan Adams, despite the rapsy voice, twilight glow of the creaky Rhodes organ, and the confessional-style songwriting. This is simply stripped-down pop with a twang, marking both a curious departure from the usual Gram Parsons palette and the potential birth of new genre, with standout songs like "The Spoils of the Spoiled" and "Hanging on for Hope" acting as signifiers along the way. Call it nu depression. --Aidin Vaziri

Product Description
2003 album and third overall from 'Side Project' band featuring Get Up Kid Matt Pryor. Gatefold paper sleeve. Vagrant.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Indie-Folk, May 23, 2004

By	"gumpkennerdly" (atlanta) - See all my reviews

matt pryor really knows how to craft songs well. he also assembled a group of talented musicians to help him out.

some songs are much "happier" than his previous albums. it has a certain optimism not found in para toda vida. "vignette" and "slight return" are dreamy pop instrumentals that *can* bring a tear to one's eye. songs such as "asleep at the wheel" and "all our vice" make this a good road album (especially at night).

this album definitely deserves five stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I now consider The Get Up Kids as the side project..., March 11, 2005

By	M. Manzella "A Lover of All Things Music" (North Riverside, Il United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What an amazing album. This is the kind of album you can listen to from front to back and still be begging for more when it ends. It's has a very mellow feel to it and you'll fall in love with his voice and just the way he sings things. "Spoils of the Spoiled" and "Hover Near Fame" start the album off with a jolt of up-tempo harmonic bliss. And sets the tone for one of my favorite albums ever. Pick this album up, on your second listen, you'll be hooked. I could write much more but I'm off to work. God bless. This album won't let you down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's about time..., November 19, 2003

By	Steven Liddicoat (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

I have been following The Get Up Kids and The New Amsterdams for a long time now and have been consistently frustrated. While all of their releases are all very respectable and hold permanent places in my disc collection, with every release by I feel as though brilliance is being dabbled in but not grasped. Here, Matt Pryor has grabbed on, and is taking it for all it's worth.

The pop sensibility of this album is overwhelming. It's so simple and yet so devestatingly catchy and infectuous. Lyrics of lost love, bitterness, and rejection somehow seem to inspire hope when laid over the somber beautiful soundscape Pryor has created. He hasn't held back on using the gamut of instrumentation to create this sound either. All the expected are in place (guitar, piano, etc...) but it's the inclusion of the occasional organ or funk-inspired down tuning that really adds that bit of extra bounce.

This album succeeds on every level and will surely be one of the most under appreciated releases for a long time to come. Maybe that's for the best though, because those who do discover this masterpeice will undoubtably feel intimately inspired by it and will want to keep it all their own.