With the Get Up Kids‘ acclaimed ‘four minute mile’ under their collective belts, the Get up Kids have produced yet another sterling record. The forerunner to ‘Something to write home about’ (see bottom of this review), this EP is as worthy of your hard-earned £6 (or $8 dollars) as a giant box of jam filled doughnuts.
5 songs, 17 minutes after hearing this record you’re ready to cry a river, testament to the GUK’s song writing ability to inspire emotion with their one emotional theme – yet each of the songs on this EP are varied enough to keep you listening to the end.
The first song, ‘one year later’, kicks in with a fast paced beat and definite guitars, combining excellent vocals with some equally excellent lyrics. ‘Red letter day’, a classic and possibly their most heart wrenching – “how could you do this to me?” – with a couple of crescendos making this a fine representation of the GUK’s talent.
‘Forgive and forget’ is in a similar stlye to ‘One year later’, and like ‘Red letter Day’ appears on their full length LP; the versions are slightly different with less keyboard and a touch more guitar to compensate. ‘Anne harbour’ starts subdued and slowly builds to a full sound with several layers, vocals that seperate then synchronize and vice versa, drawing to a conclusion in a heavy ballad style; final song ‘Mass Pike’ is also of high quality, but is probably the weakest song on the record.
So why 4 stars out of 5? well, if you already have ‘Something to write home about’, its probably not be worth the purchase; the two songs on both records are virtually identical apart from minor vocal and instrument changes – If you don’t like emotional style music turn the page now; but if you’ve been told the Get Up Kids are a force to be reckoned with, and haven’t got round to getting any of their stuff, get a copy of this and start enjoying.
nick