New Again

Taking Back Sunday

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 2, 2009)
• Original Release Date: June 2, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: WEA/Reprise
• ASIN: B0024RI98M
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,317 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Three studio albums, three gold awards, three Modern Rock hits. Now, three years after its biggest-selling album to date-the #2-charting Louder Now-Taking Back Sunday returns with a new energy, a new
guitarist and a new fearlessness on New Again, produced by David Kahne
(Sublime, The Strokes, Paul McCartney). Having toured with Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution, opened for My Chemical Romance at Madison Square Garden, coheadlined
Warped, and played Live Earth, Taking Back Sunday fulfills the expectations of a growing fan base and yet expands its musical boundaries with an album that
ranges from anthemic rock to engaging pop, the relentless to the infectious. Taking Back Sunday is truly New Again.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars unspectacular, June 2, 2009

By	noumena (New Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Again (MP3 Download)

If like me, you have been a fan of Taking Back Sunday since their debut album Tell All Your Friends, you no doubt have noticed with dismay that the impassioned back and forths and overlapping vocals that they innovated, and which characterize and define their distinctive sound, become increasingly sparse with the release of each new album.

This album continues that trend, and depending on the way you see it, may be construed as "original." Original is fine if improvements are made, and the album is better all things considered, but there aren't really any noticeable improvements, neither in the lyrics department or the music department. Matthew Fazzi, who replaces TBS' erstwhile lead guitarist, Fred Mascherino, lacks conspicuousness throughout, his vocals neither passionate nor powerful enough to match his predecessor's and sounding rather more like an afterthought than something integral to TBS' identity (as John Nolan's and Mascherino's did on former albums).

Granted, there are some stand-out tracks, like "Cut Me Up Jenny," a feisty song with a jaunty beat, and "Everything Must Go," a heartfelt lamentation of unrequited/capricious love reminiscent of "Brooklyn," but New Again is a supreme disappointment nevertheless. The fact that it took so many years to complete adds to the letdown after all the self-promoting ballyhoo (evident in its name "New Again"). Musically, it is less intricate than Where You Want to Be and Tell All Your Friends. Lyrically and production-wise, it is less mature and polished than Louder Now.

For those who prefer seeing some numbers:

1. New Again 4/5
2. Sink into Me 3/5
3. Lonely, Lonely 3/5
4. Summer Man 3/5
5. Swing 5/5
6. Where My Mouth Is 4/5
7. Cut me Up Jenny 5/5
8. Catholic Knees 3/5
9. Capital M-E 3/5
10. Carpathia 4/5
11. Everything Must Go 5/5

As you can see, there are definitely some tracks interspersed throughout that I would fain skip over when playing this CD to friends of mine who are unfamiliar with Taking Back Sunday. However, I would have no misgivings playing any of their earlier CDs in sequence and uninterrupted. Since none of their earlier CDs warranted a full 5/5 grade (Where You Want to Be and Tell All Your Friends come closest, earning a 4.5 in my book), and in all honesty this album isn't better or as good as Louder Now, which I rate a 4, I think a 3 or 3.5 is a fair mark to assign this very mediocre release.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Didn't like it much at first, but it grew on me., October 13, 2009

By	Melissa M. (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

I would like to point out, I am giving this album a 3.5, but since TBS is one of my top 3 favorite bands, I am rounding it up. And some lyrics on this album are pretty damn catchy. To me at least.

I was so looking forward to a new Taking Back Sunday album come out earlier this year. I had the date saved.

Then I heard "Sink Into Me." Honestly, at first, I didn't care for it. But after seeing them perform it live in concert, I started liking it. It had a high energy.

Fastforward to getting the album, when I first heard it, I wasn't that impressed with it. I play TAYF to death, I love WYWTB, and LN is pretty cool. I thought of LN as the weakest of the 3, but not by much. It just didn't match the first 2, but I still enjoyed playing it. I had to force myself to play NA in June. I would fiddle around with the songs, and listen to them one at a time. I will say this, right away I fell in love with "Everything Must Go." That is such a great track, vocal and lyric wise. It is so powerful, and Adam shows such great emotion. I played that song and "Sink Into Me," which really reminds me of a concert. The others I'd experiment with.

I went maybe a month without playing the album. One day while returning from a trip, I decided to play the album. Then I learned this: the album serves for great driving or traveling music. It tends to play well with the movement and scenery. I then enjoyed it. Now I have some tracks that stand out due to certain lyrics I thought were clever/catchy, like on "Catholic Knees" and "Lonely, Lonely."

I'm not as disappointed with the album like I was when I first got it 4 months ago, but it really is my least favorite of their 4. I get that bands can't/don't want to do the same album all the time (and frankly am tired of bands saying that), but do they really have to change the sound that much? On album 5 for TBS, and I hope this doesn't take another 3 years, I pray that their sound returns to the old one, or, at the very least, is similar to it.

I don't regret buying this album at all. TBS is one of my favorite bands (second fav actually) and I will continue to support them. I love the music, though don't want it to keep going in the direction it is.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Woah, woah woah...., August 8, 2009

By	Sean "Sean" (USA) - See all my reviews

Hang on, guys. Let's not all be so eager to hate on this album so fast, just because it isn't "Tell All Your Friends." Let's face it, not many albums in this genre are. That album was as close to perfection as you can come with one collection of songs. For people my age (I'm 26), and having grown-up on Long Island, that album expressed all the pent-up teenage angst that we didn't know how to get out, and it will always hold a certain sentimental value for me. But I digress: I recently saw TBS at a free outdoor concert near Gov't Ctr. in Boston, and I hadn't listened to "New Again" yet. But after the concert I was more intrigued, because the show was pretty impressive and very energetic. Having given this album a once-over, I first have to say that it's better than "Louder Now," and there's definitely something of a new sound coming through in tracks like "Sink Into Me," "Summer, Man," and "Carpathia." Long story short, it's not old TBS, but it's not the TBS of "Louder Now," either. Overall, it's better than people are giving it credit for, and it may be better appreciated with a little age.