This week Long Island legends Taking Back Sunday release their sixth LP – ‘Happiness Is’ and to mark the release, the Already Heard team have delved into the bands discography to pick our five favourite cuts from the quintet.
Having gone through various lineup changes throughout the years, Taking Back Sunday have developed from post-hardcore-influenced “emo rock” to a solid and focused alt-rock outfit.
With now six albums worth of material, the task of picking out out five favourite tracks was tough but here’s what we’ve come up with.
What do you think to our choices? What are your favourite Taking Back Sunday songs? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook.
Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team)
How can we not include this in our list? For many its the first TBS song we heard and 10 years on, it still remains a classic. ‘Cute’ marked the Lazzara-Nolan template that made ‘Tell All Your Friends’ such a fantastic record. Filled with bitter emotion and angst, it blends it with a hook-y chorus line that deserves to be sung loud and proud at any TBS show. (SR)
Set Phasers to Stun
“Say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes,” – what’s not to like about this song? I could have picked nearly any song from ‘Where You Want to Be’ but for me, opener ‘Set Phasers to Stun’ is the strongest offering from their seminal album.
Even ten years down the line, I find it impossible not to sing “so pace these stairs to your apartment like it’s where you want to be” as if it’s the most resonant lyrics I’ve ever heard. In fact ‘Set Phasers to Stun’ showcases some of Taking Back Sunday’s best word play and lyrics, and the lines “We paint our sins on the ceiling, I keep them glued to my chest, it keeps me close like a promise kept” are amongst my all-time favourite Taking Back Sunday lines.
From the catchy opening riff, to the rapidly escalating verses, to the scream-it-out-loud chorus, ‘Set Phasers to Stun’ is a three-minute ride of pure song-writing tension. It frames the album perfectly, and sets you up for the barrage of catchy songs that are set to follow. (JS)
Bike Scene
‘Tell All Your Friends’ was my first favourite album. My first voyage in to the world of music that I now reside in. I remember listening to this record quite repetitively to and from my walk to school. Even missing college to bunk a train to see them play. They were the first of many bands to hold a record close to my heart and of all the songs, ‘Bike Scene’ resonated with me just that little bit more than the others. I don’t know whether it’s the addition of the female vocals, or the croon of Lazzara singing “You’ve got this silly way, of keeping me on the edge of my seat” – but I know that still to this day, this is the only song I ever want to see live and the song I listen to first on the record. If you don’t find yourself ending on a high with “I never want it to mean that much to me” then I think maybe you didn’t have a young love affair with Taking Back Sunday. (RK)
Everything Must Go
Whilst ‘New Again’ is not loved by some fans, including me, its concluding track is one of personal favourites. The track first struck a chord when I heard on the ‘Live from Orensanz’ release where it was treated with delicacy but kept Adam Lazzara’s sorrowing tone intact. With the raw chorus line of ‘You quote the good book, when its convenient", the religious imagery combined with the narration of a relationship gone wrong is throughly effective. The studio version is more powerful with its soaring guitars, bursting chorus and spiralling bridge. It’s TBS at their most rawest and shouldn’t be ignored. (SR)
Call Me In The Morning
Their 2011 self-titled effort saw the favoured ‘Tell All Your Friends’ lineup back together and whilst the resulting LP had mixed results, its this slow-burning power ballad that made an impression. With the Lazzara-Nolan back and forth vocal dynamic back in full-force. Add to that its towering build and stripped back approach, its a stunning track that deserves a place on any ‘Best of’ playlist. (SR)
What do you think to our choices? What are your favourite Taking Back Sunday songs? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook.
‘Happiness Is’ by Taking Back Sunday is out now on Hopeless Records.
Taking Back Sunday links: Website|Facebook|Twitter
Words by Sean Reid (SR), Jay Sullivan (JS) and Rosie Kerr (RK)