Starlight

Recently I went to the American Idols Live! Tour concert in Washington, DC. I have a full review of that coming up, but during the concert I was introduced to some gorgeous songs, one of them being Starlight by Muse. When Adam Lambert sang Starlight, I was BLOWN AWAY. I was really scared to get the original because often when Adam covers songs, his version of it and his voice is just so superior to those of the original artists. I was (and am) happy to report that Muse absolutely NAILS it!

Starlight is a song about missing someone. Anyone. Anyone who cares about you and anyone who you care about in return. Lead singer for Muse, Matthew Bellamy, said that he first wrote the song on a ship in bad weather, but I think the ship in the song can have many different meanings.

A journey, literal or figurative. A journey that makes you sacrifice things and explore new things, and build and break your expectations. Find new revelations, despairs and celebrations.

But the song has fear, desperation. Fear that your loved one will disappear while you take your journey. Fear that he/she will become a memory, and that memory will fade away. Desperation to hold on to them. To chase them and love them no matter what, to never let them go.

It also has hope. Hope and love towards that person, something that person brings out inside of you, something you want to bring out in other. Something you want to share with and show the world, with your loved one by your side.

This song is about love, hope, togetherness, ambition and desperation. It's life.

The lyrics are so inspiring and the song is so well put together with Mr.Bellamy's vocals and the guitar, drums and piano used. I love the emotional strength portrayed through the piano and drums. It's powerful, but beautiful. Matthew Bellamy does an especially amazing job during the chorus (hold you in my arms...etc.). He has such emotion, but still maintains his voice and uses it so effectively when switching to the higher notes. It's altogether gorgeous.

I hope you are inspired <3

Starlight-*****

Starlight- Muse

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

The starlight
I will be chasing your starlight
Until the end of my life
I don't know if it's worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to re-ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

But I'll never let you go
If you promised not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

And I'll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms
I just wanted to hold

***

And for the sake of loving him... Here's Adam performing Starlight in Newark (thank you TheAdamBombs!:

Feel Good Drag

So this song is Feel Good Drag by Anberlin. I discovered them on Fuse (like most of the artists I post about) and I really fell in love with this song.

I love the introduction to the song, because it's exciting enough to interest you, but it has that tinge of suspense that leads into the first verse. The verses are very cool and story like while the chorus is more of the emotional part. I like the strain Stephen Christian has to his voice, it really pulls you in to the chorus.

But I have a pet peeve: repetitiveness. I think Christian gave it all at the first chorus and so past that, there wasn't anything exciting. I was disappointed that he didn't change his voice with the different chorus sections and/or didn't play around with any notes or rhythms. The vocals also seemed to be quite dynamically impaired.

Guitar, guitar. I liked the guitar part in this song including the solo.

All in all, this is a pretty good song and I am giving it 4 stars :) Enjoy!

Feel Good Drag- ****

Feel Good Drag- Anberlin

"I'm here for you," she said
and we can stay for awhile,
my boyfriend's gone
we can just pretend.
Lips that need no introduction
Now who's the greater sin
Your drab eyes seem to invite
(tell me darling) Where do we begin.

Was this over before...
before it ever began?
Your kiss, your calls, your crutch
Like the devil's got your hand
This was over before
Before it ever began
Your lips, your lies, your lust
Like the devil's in your hands

Everyone in this town
is seeing somebody else
Everybody's tired of someone
our eyes wander for help
Prayers that need no answer now
I'm tired of who I am
You were my greatest mistake
I fell in love with your sin
Your littlest sin

Was this over before...
before it ever began?
Your kiss, your calls, your crutch
Like the devil's got your hand
This was over before
Before it ever began
Your lips, your lies, your lust
Like the devil's in your hands

Failure is your disease
You want my outline drawn
You were my greatest failure
Discourse your saving song

Was this over before...
before it ever began?
Your kiss, your calls, your crutch
Like the devil's got your hand
This was over before
Before it ever began
Your lips, your lies, your lust
Like the devil's in your hands

Folie a Duex

Monday (12/15) and Tuesday (12/16) are the official dates for the release of Fall Out Boy's new album, Folie a Duex. Luckily, (with much thanks to my father and the FOB website) I have the review for you before it comes out! So here you are:

Cover:

N/A

Tracks:

[~= single, += bonus track(only currently available through falloutboyrock.com)]

1. Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes-*****

2. ~I Don't Care-*****

3. She's My Winona-****

4. ~America's Suitehearts-****

5. ~Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet-***1/2

6. The (Shipped) Gold Standard-*****

7. (Coffee's For Closers)-****

8. ~What A Catch, Donnie [feat. Elvis Costello, Brendon Urie, Travis McCoy, Alex DeLeon & William Beckett]-*****

9. 27-*****

10.Tiffany Blews [feat. Lil' Wayne]-*****

11. w.a.m.s. [feat. Pharrell]-*****

12. 20 Dollar Nose Bleed [feat. Brendon Urie]-***1/2

13. West Coast Smoker [feat. Debbie Harry]-****

14. +America's Suitehearts (remix)-? (haven't gotten it yet)

Review:

I am definitely in love with this album. Fall Out Boy gets better and better with each album they make. The incredible leap they've made from their first album Evening Out With Your Girlfriend in 2003 to this album is really incredible and I think every album has distinct improvement and exemplifies more talent than the last. This album is another amazing step forward for Fall Out Boy.

I think Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes is a great way to kick off the new album. It has that amazing make-your-heart-soar, fantasizing-about-seeing-them-play-it-live feel that only Fall Out Boy can give.

I'm going to avoid talking about songs I've already reviewed (if you want a look, click the links on the songs). I have to say, I really like the lyrics to She's My Winona. It's not my favorite song of the album, but it is great.

Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet I find kind of repetitive, but enjoyable. Not much to say on that one.

The (Shipped) Gold Standard is amazing! I love the falsetto Patrick has when he sings "as soon as we hit the hospital" and the lyrics to the chorus are great. I also love the sound of the bridge, the off-beat syncopated sound.

(Coffee's For Closers): Another great song with top-notch lyrics even though it's repetitive, it's still Fall Out Boy so they can get away with it ;)

27 has that dark, fast beat feel to it and I really like it, it's one of my favorites.

Tiffany Blews has a great chorus and bridge and is really fun to listen to (the bridge is cool).

I love w.a.m.s. I think it's one of the best songs and it seems so different from the other songs, but I hope they play it live on Tuesday! (the ending is really strange though)

20 Dollar Nose Bleed is another song with a weird ending except this one kind of creeped me out...

West Coast Smoker was good, but I think they could have picked a stronger piece to end the album. The mention of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost was interesting because it was really metaphorical and it has double (or more than double) meanings to it.

Wow! That was a long review (sorry!). All in all, this album definitely deserves a  5 star rating

even though the songs were fairly short. I can't wait to see how they do live!

Never Think

This song is a gorgeous guitar/vocal piece sung by Robert Pattinson. My interpretation of this song is how much he loves a girl, but he can't be with her. He wants her, but he knows he'll hurt her. He wants her to run, to stay away from him because he's no good for her, but he's admitting that he's not strong enough to stay away from her. He shouldn't even think about being with her because they can't be together, but she loves him, too. He doesn't want her to love him, but at the same time, he does. And she'll loose everything for him, but it's her choice because he's too selfish and weak (in a good way) to stay away even though he knows he should.

This song is so emotional, at least for me. It's about hurting and anger and selfishness and weakness and giving up and holding on and dreaming and loving. It's about love, but the real kind. Pain and hurt and sacrifice and weakness. But there's a sort of peace and happiness to the song. Like he wants to be mad at her for loving him, he wants to hate her, he wants to make her understand how they can't be together, he wants to be strong, but he's relieved and happy that neither of them have the strength.

The music and lyrics just paint a beautiful picture and in that whole description I don't think I was even close to capturing the full essence and full meaning of this beautifully sung piece: Never Think.

Never Think (unofficial video)- *****


Never Think- Robert Pattinson

I should never think
What's in your heart
What's in our home
So I won't

You'll learn to hate me
But still call me baby
Oh love
So call me by my name
And save your soul
Save your soul
Before your to far gone
Before nothing can be done

I'll try to decide when
She'll lie in the end
I ain't got no fight in me
In this whole damn world
So hold off -wrong- (Tell you to hold off)
She should hold off-wrong- (You choose to hold on)
It's the one thing that I've known

Once I put my coat on
I coming out in this all wrong
She standing outside holding me
Saying oh please
I'm in love
I'm in love

Girl save your soul
Go on save your soul
Before it's to far gone
And before nothing can be done

Cause without me
You got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
Without me you got it all
So hold on
Without me you got it all
Without me you got it all
So hold on

Yellow

Hi! I know I have been gone for a while and my Kerli post is getting kinda old so I'm going to post about a new artist: Coldplay.

I took this quiz called "What's Your Love Song?" and my result was "Yellow by Coldplay". So I decided to check it out. And I have to tell you, I fell in love. Short and sweet, but what really gets me is the pure simplicity. He wrote a song for her. He called it "Yellow". The stars shine for her. And they are Yellow. He'd swim an ocean for her, he'd jump across it for her. He thinks she's beautiful. He loves her so.
I mean, how easy can it be? He loves whoever he's talking to and that's it. It's a nice song and I was never really into Coldplay before, but know I have to look up more of their stuff.

I also love how the vocals are very simple and they convey emotion without doing anything ground-breakingly drastic. No screaming, no huge changes. Just singing. And the music holds most of the emotion in the song which I really like.

The video is just as simple (possibly simpler) than the song and I like the lighting and how it gets brighter as the song goes along.

Enjoy!

Yellow - ****1/2


Yellow- Coldplay

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you i bleed myself dry
For you i bleed myself dry

Its true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

I Don't Care

I just got this song on my iPod yesterday and I am completely in love with it. It's got a great dancing-type beat and the chorus is kind of a dark/mysterious feel. I love the change in the beat in the fourth chorus (it's starred). I can definitely see it as a song that would connect with a live audience well and would be great to see in concert. Patrick's voice has really grown and it was just great to get some fresh, new material from Fall Out Boy. Yes, here is FOB's single from their upcoming album Folie A Duex called I Don't Care.

I Don't Care (not official video)- *****

I Don't Care- Fall Out Boy

Say my name, and his in the same breath, I
Dare you to say they taste the same,
Let the leaves fall off in the summer
And let December glow feel flames

Brace myself and let go,
Start it over again in Mexico
These friends, they don’t love you
They just love the hotel suites, now

I don’t care what you think
As long as it’s about me
The best of us can find happiness
In misery

Oh, take a chance, let your body get a tolerance,
I’m not a chance, but a heat wave in your pants
Pull a breath like another cigarette,
Palms up, I’m trading ‘em (trading ‘em)

I’m the oracle in my chest,
Let the guitar scream like a fascist,
Sweat it out, shut your mouth,
Free love on the streets, but
In the alley and I ain’t that cheap, now

I don’t care what you think,
As long as it’s about me
The best of us can find happiness
In misery

I don’t care what you think,
As long as it’s about me
The best of us can find happiness
In misery

Said-a, I don’t care just a-what you think,
As long as it’s about me, you said-a
I don’t care just what you think,
As long as it’s about me, you said-a
I don’t care (I don’t care)
You said I don’t care (I don’t care)
Said I don’t care,
I don’t care
I don’t care (I don’t care), I said-a
I don’t care

*I don’t care what you think,
As long as it’s about me
The best of us can find happiness
In misery*

I don’t care what you think,
As long as it’s about me
The best of us can find happiness
In misery

Hey There Delilah

Hi! I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in over week. But I was just listening to my iPod while I was writing the other day and I listened to this song that I haven't heard in months. As I was listening to it I realized how beautiful and simple it was. Just a guitar and vocals with some cello/violin at the end. Simple, but gorgeous. The yrics are wonderful and the whole song is so pure, so sincere. I really love it. Of course I can especially relate to NYC, so it makes it that much more special. Three cheers for Plain White T's! P.S. I rate this song five stars.

Hey There Delilah- *****



Hey There Delilah- Plain White T's

Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah
Don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise
I'm by your side

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good
We'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
and we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to

Hey there Delilah here's to you
This one's for you

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me.

(oh)

Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

Hi everybody, it's MCR time again. This time I'm reviewing their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.

TRACKS:
[~=singles *=videos]

1. ~*"Helena"-*****
2. "Give 'Em Hell Kid"-*****
3. "To The End"-*****
4. "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison"-*****
5. ~*"I'm Not Okay"-*****
6. ~*"The Ghost Of You"-*****
7. "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You"-****
8. "Interlude"-**
9. ~"Thank You For The Venom"-*****
10. "Hang 'Em High"-****
11. "It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Deathwish"-***
12. "Cemetery Drive"-*****
13. "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living"-*****
14. "Bury Me In Black" (Japanese version bonus track; demo)

This album is probably my favorite album by My Chem(this album was not on Eyeball Records, but was made after the band signed to Reprise Records, to which they are still signed to today). I really appreciate the fact that the songs have to do with prison and war and high school and that they really connect with the fans. I'm Not Okay was the first song that really touched me and really made me a fan. Along with this album was their new look. Along with that came Marilyn Manson's attack on Gerard Way for imitating his make up. There was controversy that MM's song Imitation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery was written as an attack on My Chem, but was denied by Manson saying it was about bands in general attempting to imitate him.

This album also brought along with it their first three videos. I will be doing reviews of them along with my review of Life On The Murder Scene. This band has grown a lot in two albums and I was (and am) really proud of them. All in all, I rate this album 5 stars.

I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

Greetings from N.C.! I decided that since it is My Chem Month and today is the anniversary for their debut album, it's time for.... A debut album review!!! (I know I'm so freaking clever, right? I bet you didn't even see that coming) So, here I am to present to you I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love!

TRACKS:
[~=single +=not written by MCR]

1. +"Romance"-*****
2. ~"Honey This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us"-*****
3. ~"Vampires Will Never Hurt You"-*****
4. "Drowning Lessons"-***
5. ~"Our Lady Of Sorrows"-*****
6. ~"Headfirst For Halos"-*****
7. "Skylines And Turnstiles"-****1/2
8. "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville"-****
9. "This Is The Best Day Ever"-***1/2
10. "Cubicles"-***1/2
11. "Demolition Lovers"-*****

So, this album was released on July 23, 2002 at the start of MCR's career (they were, at the time, signed to Eyeball Records). I rate this album an over all of 4 stars. I really like this album because it shows how much this band has improved, but also gives this pure emotion of how crappy their lives were during the time of this album and the songs have a lot of meaning to them. I love how the album starts off with a soft and quite beautiful guitar part in Romance and then leads into This Mirror Isn't Big Enough with the electric guitar. Headfirst For Halos started out as a joke about Frank getting high, but ended up being a really great song. Skylines And Turnstiles was the first song ever written by MCR about Gerard witnessing 9/11 from a ferry. All in all, this is a great album with a lot of struggles, victories and history behind it.

A new outlook on Pretty. Odd.

I want to apologize to my friend for leaving a comment on her blog saying I wasn't a fan of Northern Downpour, I lied :) I especially want to apologize to Panic At The Disco if I ever dissed them. Yesterday I went shopping and got Pretty. Odd. at F.Y.E. I just downloaded it on my iPod (I got a nano!) and I was shocked. The so called (or as I called them) "cheesy" lyrics were incredibly powerful and uplifting and the new sound is just great. I completely understand what's so great about Northern Downpour and I've decided to rate all the songs by stars:

We're So Starving- ***
Nine In The Afternoon- *****
She's A Handsome Woman- ***1/2
Do You Know What I'm Seeing?- *****
That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)- *****
I Have Friends In Holy Spaces- ****
Northern Downpour- *****
When The Day Met The Night- *****
Pas De Cheval- ***
The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know- ****
Behind The Sea- ****1/2
Folkin' Around- *****
She Had The World- ***1/2
From A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins- *****
Mad As Rabbits- ****

I really love how Ryan gets to sing in Mad As Rabbits and She Had The World. He has a great voice, but he needs to put a little more enthusiasm in his voice and he goes a little flat when he scoops to a note. Of course, I could criticize Brendon, but I'm so used to his voice and that's why I notice more things about Ryan. I especially like when he sings in She Had The World, I think he sounds great.

So, that's it for today. I won't be posting in eight days because I'll be in Vancouver for my competition. Wish me luck!