Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be (2004) [FLAC]

Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be (2004) [FLAC]

Released: 2004
Duration: 66:07
Genre: Pop/Rock
Style: Alternative, Punk-Pop
Codec: FLAC
Bit Rate: ~ 1,000 kbps
Bits Per Sample: 16
Sample Rate: 44,100 Hz

01 Set Phasers to Stun (3:03)
02 Bonus Mosh Pt. 2 (3:06)
03 A Decade Under the Influence (4:08)
04 This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) (4:11)
05 The Union (2:50)
06 New American Classic (4:35)
07 I Am Fred Astaire (3:43)
08 One-Eighty by Summer (3:54)
09 Number Five with a Bullet (3:50)
10 Little Devotional (3:07)
11 Slowdance on the Inside (4:26)

Where You Want to Be builds on the hardcore-power-meets-pop-skills of Taking Back Sunday's debut, Tell All Your Friends, and reveals the group to be, in many ways, a quintessential latter-day emo band. Not because they're redefining the style's sound, but because their music is defined by so many of emo's nearly cliché tendencies. A gerund-led band name? Check. Cryptically bittersweet titles like "Little Devotional"? Present and accounted for. Shouty, anthemic vocals, string-driven ballads like "New American Classic," and wordy, confessional lyrics ("Give me a chance? Whatever...you're so hit or miss, and that's so '93") are all in place as well. However, while Where You Want to Be might be more than a little (stereo)typical, it's not embarrassing; songs like "A Decade Under the Influence," "One Eighty by Summer," and "Number Five With a Bullet" do have some real impact, and show some songwriting growth since Tell All Your Friends. But since the band doesn't take the occasionally cringe-worthy risks of some of their emo brethren, Taking Back Sunday sometimes comes off as less than distinctive, and the album can sound like a generic soundtrack to generic teenage angst; even though it's a nearly universal subject, it should never sound routine. Where You Want to Be is definitely a solid album -- especially considering that it was recorded so soon after half the band was replaced -- but crafting something a little more unique would take Taking Back Sunday's music that much farther. [Where You Want to Be was released with a bonus CD of songs and videos from like-minded Victory Records artists, including Hawthorne Heights, Bayside, Action Action, and Silverstein.