Geekscape Music Reviews: Yellowcard’s When You’re Through Thinking…

When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes

This week, I’m reviewing the seventh studio album from Pop-Punk band Yellowcard. The album, “When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes”, gets its title from a text message sent from lead singer Ryan Key to a girl, and is the band’s first album since their reformation a few months back. The band had put themselves on a hiatus in mid-2008 until the individual members could figure out their personal lives.

This new album marks not just a new beginning for the band, but it also marks Yellowcard’s debut on Hopeless records, most of their previous releases being through Capitol Records. Capitol released 3 of their studio albums, including their break out albums “Ocean Avenue” and “Lights And Sounds”, the latter being arguably their most well known.

Enough background though, let’s get on to the review.

“When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes” starts off with the band going back to their punk-ish roots, the opening track opening with super-fast drumming that don’t allow the singing even a chance of catching up and sounds very unlike Yellowcard, and then in the same song, changes to them playing slow and melodic. Most people would find the transition interesting, however, I found it boring and sloppy. Luckily for them, this is the only spot like this on the rest of the album.

However, that’s not to say that the rest of the CD is “flawless”. To be brutally honest, it doesn’t even sound like a studio album. To me it sounds more like a Pop-Punk mixtape, with the band trying to see how many different styles they can play in 37 mins (The answer is quite a few). They manage to play a bit of blink-182, Simple Plan, Plain White Tees, Less Than Jake, Green Day, and some Sum 41, with a little of their own music thrown in along the way.

Since they DO include their trademark violin use (if in only 2 or 3 songs), there’s another way to describe the album, and that’s as a B-Side compilation from throughout the band’s career. But that’s not to say it’s not a good album, just not a GREAT one. Yes, it lacks originality. Yes, it sounds as if they were trying too hard to make a comeback. But at least it’s decently catchy, and in the Pop-Punk genre, that’s really all you can ask for.

Would I have liked them to stick to what they’re good at? Yes. Am I glad that they were actually willing to try something new? Yes and no. But at least the band’s back together, and that means there’s more to come in the future!

Amongst their seven albums, I’d put it as third or fourth best, mostly because I don’t know a lot of their early stuff.

As for an overall rating, 3/5 sounds about right to me.
Key tracks: “For You, And Your Denial”, “With You Around”, and “Soundtrack”.

Still thinking,
-JC