Review

Before the glitz, before the glamour, even before lead vocalist Ryan Key, there was a small band by the name of Yellowcard operating out of Jacksonville, FL. Originally released in 1999, Where We Stand was the first album released by any label for this violin totting pop-punk outfit. After reliving such a blast from the past, it’s astonishing Yellowcard managed to get signed at all.

Before Ryan Key took over the vocal duties and hoisted Yellowcard on his back, there was a singer by the name of Ben Dobson that, quite frankly, shouldn’t have been a vocalist at all. Take the scratchy hoarse vocals of Ashlee Simpson and give them a deeper tone and you’ll be at the approximate level that Dobson delivered.

His throaty renditions of “Lesson Learned” and “Time Will Tell” should be enough to make you reach for the eject button quick enough to sprain a muscle. If you managed to get past the first two tracks, your ears are sure to implode by the time “Sue” crashes into place. While we’ve all come to love the rich sounds Harper pulls from the violin, six years ago he wasn’t exactly as experienced—especially when molding the tones and rhythms into a punk rock crescendo. Let’s face it, a symphony or jazz band isn’t quite the same as a riff-heavy rock band.

To be perfectly honest, we couldn’t let this album play past track four the first time we heard it. Trying to withstand this album again, six years later, especially after the dramatic evolution and leaps in maturity that took place to create Ocean Avenue, a pop-punk masterpiece, is unbearable. Why would anyone want to recollect the worst songs ever produced by a pre-pubescent Yellowcard? Oh that’s right; Takeover is banking on the success of Yellowcard AFTER they left that label. Sometimes we forget that there’s a silly thing called cash to be made by slapping a familiar name on a pile of garbage.

Review by Jason Schleweis

1 out of 5