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Guilt Show

The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show Audio CD

A fair review of the The Get Up Kids "Guilt Show" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Get Up Kids reviews here, or go back to the The Get Up Kids tabs.

Band: The Get Up Kids
Title: Guilt Show
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-03-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Man of Conviction 2: One You Want 3: Never Be Alone 4: Wouldn't Believe It 5: Holy Roman 6: Martyr Me 7: How Long Is Too Long 8: Sick in Her Skin 9: In Your Sea 10: Sympathy 11: Dark Night of the Soul 12: Is There a Way Out 13: Conversation

great albumm
they also say people who dislike like this album are the same who adore on a wire and those types. most people say they either hate this album or love it obviously. All i can say is this is by far my favorite of the get up kids but i also do like on a wire so i don't know what to say to those who like either or. I like the other GUK's albums musicaly wise I just think the vocals would sound better if they were a bit more on pitch. I like the style but it didnt sound to pleasant to me. Anyways this album had exactly what i was looking for.

Simply amazing.
Some may say this may be the worst album, some say it's the best. The Get Up Kids-Guilt Show. However, I just say it's the most mature sounding as the band is now in its so called "college years. " But let's review their high school. First off we have the very intelligent album Four Minute Mile which showed how much promise they showed. Which lead up to Eudora, which were basically covers and EP songs, still very good. Next came Something To Write Home About which truly signified how these guys would end up. . . a great band. Next came the total change-of-pace that is On A Wire, which showed a new Pryor. Which now leads us to the beautiful album that is Guilt Show. Which seemingly abandons all older sounds of the Get Up Kids and almost creates a rebirth.

Guilt Show is basically everything that could go right in an album. . . going right. It contained poppy songs, slow-subtle songs and just truly genius songs. First, we have opener Man Of Conviction which is one of the pop-songs. The is perfect in this situation because it gets the album going which in-turn drives you to want to hear more. With a combined roaring guitar and Dewees' keyboard it adds perfect accompaniment to Pryors vocals. Other pop songs include The One You Want, Wouldn't Believe It, Martyr Me, How Long Is Too Long and In Your Sea. These songs are truly the backbone of the album, but do not mistake that with the heart of the album.

Getting off of the pop subject, we have the slow, subtle songs reminiscent to that found frequently on the album On A Wire. Songs like Never Be Alone, Holy Roman and Sick In Your Skin show that these guys are past pop-ballads and have moved on to bigger and more mature sounds. Bass lines are heard much better and smarter lyrics evident. These songs do very much show how these guys have grown from the likes of Four Minute Mile and Something To Write Home About.

With that being said, it brings us to the last 3 songs of this album. I truly believe that The Dark Night Of The Soul, Is There A Way Out and Conversation are in a league of their own. It shows their songwriting abilities (The Dark Night Of The Soul), beautiful vocals (Is There A Way Out) and just going all out with everything just pounding but not randomly (Conversation). All 5 instruments come together on all three songs and blow you away. This truly signifies the end of a less mature band, and the beginning of something bigger/better. It is virtually impossible to label this album pop, because that's just false.

If the high points of all four albums were put together, the end product would surely be Guilt Show. Nothing goes wrong in this album, and the work put into this album is clearly shown. It deserves many listens to truly appreciate every aspect of it.
.

Disappointing...
Their two e. After 4 minute mile and Something to write home about, the get up kids showed more promise than any other band in my collection of artists. p. 's also were really good. But than they put out on a wire, and that album was not bad. Though i thought they would try something different and then get back to their rocking ways. Boy was i wrong. If i want to list to matt pryor sing pop ballads, i will listen to is side project band. At least that is waht i thought. Now if want to here him sing mediocre pop ballads, i list to the get up kids. . . THat is not the way it is supposed to be. I guess their best music is behind them.

Slacker Pop
Emo stands for "emotional," as in "emotional punk," but beyond this, I don't know much because I'm thirty-two and haven't been near a high school classroom in fifteen years. Kansas City's Get Up Kids are an Emo band. In truth, Emo isn't an age specific category, though the newest wave of Emo bands are popular with the high school and college crowd (The Kids, from what I gather, are high school student faves). For more information on Emo, visit Andy Radin's Web site "What the Heck *Is* Emo Anyway?" (www. fourfa. com). Radin, a Stanford student, breaks down Emo into distinct phases, starting with emocore groups like Fugazi and ending with post-emo indie, which includes groups like The Get Up Kids. According to Radin, post-emo indie groups feature popish hooks and "cutesy boy" vocals, thus creating dissonance between surface melody and a lurking depth of apathy, irony, melancholy, rage, what-have-you. Radin seems to know his stuff, and I have no reason to doubt him, but if I could toss the Emo label aside for a moment, The Get Up Kids remind me of several non-emo groups: the Housemartins, Weezer, Blink 182, They Might Be Giants. Maybe I'm way off (Guilt Show is the Kids' fourth CD, and I haven't heard the other three), or maybe Matt Pryor's vocals have just enough snottyness in them to remind me of the above groups (though, Weezer aside, I like the above groups). The Kids display some pop knack on the first six tracks, especially the opener "Man of Conviction," a power pop-punk ditty, and "The One You Want. " You'll find yourself tapping your toes through the first half of the CD, but then you begin to sense that The Get Up Kids shot their wad early (hey, I think I'm allowed to use prepubescent metaphors in a review of the Kids). Starting with the accurately titled "How Long is Too Long," the tunes start to strain as the Kids' sugar high wears off. Moreover, robbed of hooks, the listener won't find much in the lyrics, which mostly focus (very, very vaguely) on relationships. Pryor likes to play with words ("Take stock in the master plan / Place bets on an empty hand / Empire has a leg to stand / Holy Roman style poison from a holy grail / Blind faith doesn't make the sale / Landmines on the righteous trail / March rank and file"), but he comes across as someone who might claim to like Elvis Costello but doesn't have Costello's talent. Perhaps this is fitting though, for Guilt Show specializes in teen pop-punk anthems, and what better adolescent verisimilitude than anthems without much meaning or a clear call to do anything. Ultimately, the Kids are like a 7-11 Big Gulp of Mountain Dew: a syrupy dose of fizz that you'll eventually pitch without finishing.

The Get Up Kids, Guilt Show.

Standout tracks: "The One You Want"

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A Get Up Kids Classic
First: I bought "Something to write home about" then I fell in love with the cd
Second: I bought "On A Wire" and loved the whole cd for it's differences and everything
Third: I bought "Guilt Show" and loved how all the songs seemed upbeat and had good rhythms, this is a good cd!.

You can see a complete list of all The Get Up Kids discography, or go back to the The Get Up Kids tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.