Disc #8: Yellowcard (Lights and Sounds)

Artist: Yellowcard
Album: Lights and Sounds
Released by Capitol Records in 2006

I think this is my first listen to Yellowcard's "Lights and Sounds". If not, it's the first serious run-through, and the only time it has been for a spin since we acquired it. Yes, acquired, since we didn't actually purchase this one. Nora works at Sick Kids Hospital and sometimes gets extra donations if the people organizing the gifts feel they are not appropriate for the age group or the specific interests of the kids that are there at the time. Thus, we received this album.

I realized pretty soon into the album why we never played it after the initial listen. I wouldn't say that it is bad in terms of music, or production value. It's just not memorable. I listened to the whole album once, then again, and really didn't want any more. I wasn't artistically offended, but I wasn't fed either.

The album itself is meant to be an informal concept album, based on negative feelings towards the city of Los Angeles (where the band is based). I got that from some of the tracks and isolated lyrics, especially the tune titled, "City of Devils". However, I don't find the congruity that I enjoy in a concept album, let alone a good "regular" album, which typically has considerably less amounts of common threads holding it together.

I will say that I did enjoy the lyrics of the politically charged "Two Weeks From Twenty", which tells the tale of a young man who feels he doesn't fit in, joins the army, and is then killed. This metaphorically, but directly, points the finger at "the man to blame", and is obviously referring to the States' current military campaigns overseas. I always enjoy it when artists of this present apathetic generation say something (anything!) about how they feel regarding the current state of affairs (in any context: political, social, religious, etc.).

You already get my feelings on this album, but there's one more thing that really bugs me. On the first listen to, I immediately recognized that the lyrics to "How I Go" are an almost word-for-word plot outline of the 2003 film "Big Fish". As soon as I got home I ripped open the liner notes to see if any credit was given to the film: none. I thought I had better look into it a little further before I ranted about it here. As far as I could search (and keep in mind that I am not very good at Internet), I couldn't find any reference to any lawsuits or copyright infringement accusations. I guess it's not a problem, but I still think it's dirty pool.

This raises a number of questions. Is it OK to use someone else's creative ideas for your own artistic work and benefit? Is there a percentage of ideas you can use that are acceptable before you get sued? Or, did Yellowcard just fly under the radar? Like I wrote earlier, even if it's a non issue, I think it's bad form. At very least you should acknowledge where you stole the ideas from, especially when they come from copyrighted material (for your own liability's sake).

Well, I think that's quite enough. I might have loved this album ten years ago, but it doesn't do anything for me now. Even with some political mustering, I've come away in want. And if you really want to write a song that ticks me off, go ahead and steal some one's ideas and not give them credit for it. I feel passionate about giving this album a score of:

3

on THE MIKE JONES SCALE OF DISC AWESOMENESS. Before I wrote this blog, I was going to give it a 4 or 5, but I'm even more ticked now after writing about it. Tough luck guys. At least you have thousands of dollars more than I do. That should cover the counselling you need after being crushed by reading my blog.

Join me next time as the experiment continues and we recover from the worst score so far with Disc #9: Wolfmother. (insert any air-guitar move here)