My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
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Music CD Cover
Artist: My Chemical RomanceBrand: My Chemical Romance
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Original recording
CD Release Date: 2006-10-31
Music Label: Warner Brothers
Product features:
- vinyl
- The End.
- Dead!
- This Is How I Disappear
- The Sharpest Lives
- Welcome To The Black Parade
- I Don't Love You
- House Of Wolves
- Cancer
- Mama
- Sleep
- Teenagers
- Disenchanted
- Famous Last Words
Free Music Notes for The Black Parade
Free Music Review: One of the Best Albums of 2006
Hit: 5 Stars
I do not often write reviews for Amazon, but every once and awhile I feel the need to, when I have something important enough to say. In this case, I feel I do.
My Chemical Romance saves lives.
I am not being hyperbolic in this statement. I have first hand proof. Yes, they have saved my life. And no, I am not an overdramatic 14-year-old. (Not anymore, anyway.) But that is not the point. If a band's music reaches a 14-year-old, a 21-year-old, and a 55-year-old (or in this case, all three), then that is a pretty large testament to their quality of work and versatile nature. That, dear friends, is the point.
A lot could be said about the phenomenon of MCR's popularity, but I'd like to keep my commentary on that to a minimum, as this is first and foremost a review of The Black Parade. But this needs to be said: If you place judgement on this album based on a) the band's apparent "mainstream" status b) the fact that it doesn't sound like either of their previous efforts and/or c) you are sick of hearing everyone else talking about them and are content to write them off as another hyped up "emo" band, you aren't even worthy of listening to it in the first place.
First of all, I am sorry MCR is considered mainstream now, but that is a lame excuse that shouldn't even be used anymore, considering they have been on a major label since before the production of their last album, 2004's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. I know everyone is eager to cry "SELLOUT" when a band signs to a major label, but they maintained all creative control when they signed and Three Cheers did pretty well, didn't it? If anything, it just ensured them larger exposure, a bigger chance to get their music heard by more people. Two, if you want to listen to a band that sounds exactly the same from album to album, a band of MCR'S talent and skill is clearly not for you. Luckily there are approximately eighty thousand other bands that will appeal to you, most notably Fall Out Boy and the Killers. And finally, absolutely nothing should be judged about a band based on hype, whether this is a positive or negative judgement. Put all your biases aside and listen to the music. Then form your opinion.
Now that that's out of the way, here is my opinion.
The Black Parade is a masterpiece.
I've been a fan of MCR since I heard You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison (from the speakers in an Urban Outfitters, of all places). The summer of 2005 was spent blasting Three Cheers from my car stereo, but I realized I was just as much enamored with their less polished debut, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Life. They became heroes of mine to an extent, with a success story to rival all success stories. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, do some googling, find some old magazines on them or watch the DVD -- it's a pretty crazy story involving depression, alcoholism, rock and roll and comic books, just to name a few.) After the huge lovely circus that was Three Cheers died down, the band went back into the studio, and I waited. I did not have high expectations or low expectations. There were no expectations. What it would be was what it would be.
And here is what The Black Parade is: a ridiculously wonderful romp of epic-sounding tunes, brilliant guitarwork, dark yet uplifting imagery in the lyrics, as well as other intruments brought to the table, mainly piano. Gerard's vocals are as explosive as ever, thankfully with a little less screaming (the boy can sing and he should showcase that more, for sure), and guest vocals include not only Liza Minelli but several parents of the band members. The stakes are higher than they were on Three Cheers and it shows. While I love Three Cheers dearly, it did not keep me up at night. I heard The Black Parade and stopped sleeping. That only happens to me when it's the cream of the crop, trust me.
I'd love to go song by song but I'm afraid it'd all be rather repetitive, as everything is more or less equally amazing. Favorites are hard to pinpoint, but the Sharpest Lives, This is How I Disappear, Disenchanted and Mama are definitely up there. Oh, and House of Wolves, Blood, Teenagers, Famous Last Words... The only song I don't like is Cancer. It's widely known to be the band's favorite, but I'm sorry, boys, I'm just not feeling it. It's not technically a bad song, but somehow it just doesn't feel genuine enough. Also I can't help but think the refrain is unintentionally ripping off the Folgers jingle. ("The best part of waking up is Gerard Way in your cup!") Disenchanted packs the punch Cancer lacks, serving much more truth lyrically, and I can rarely listen to it without crying. But make no mistake, my dislike for one song does not detract from my love of the album as a whole. I do have to say I noticed more simplistic lyrics this time than on Three Cheers, but that doesn't bother me. If anything they're more straightforward than metaphorical. On the whole, however, I am not entirely certain how the Black Parade operates as the concept album the band says it does. But that could just be because of how personally invested I've become with this band and its members. I'll give it a few more listens on a more detached level and see what I make of it then.
All that being said, how exactly does MCR save lives, you ask? Well, they saved mine simply by existing. They have set up their music and their image around the concept of saving lives. To some it might seem silly, to others pretentious, but to the ones that get it, they know how true it is. Music, on its deepest, purest level, touches people. Music can pull you up from the deepest of holes, just because of one song that you know was written by someone who felt the way you feel. They know this. For a band obsessed with macabre imagery, the wonderful irony of MCR is how much they value life. They are not about the fame (which they have plenty of) or the money (which they also have plenty of). They merely want to get their message across in the best package possible, to change a life, save a life. That, essentially, is what makes them stand out from most of the other bands out there with nothing to say.
That is why I love My Chemical Romance, and why this album does not disappoint.
The Black Parade Poster
The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance's follow-up to its 2004 platinum major-label debut Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, "is way more dramatic, way more theatrical, completely over the top, borderline psychotic," says Gerard Way. "It's the most pure, intense thing we've ever been involved in." Producer by Rob Cavallo (Green Day), the album is a celebration of lvoe and death and darkness. Join The Black Parade.My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has alternately described his band's third album as "completely over the top" and "borderline psychotic." But even those words can't adequately prepare fans of the group's 2004 platinum major-label debut, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, for the onslaught of twisted song suites, glam-rock cannon fire and drama-club theatrics that make up The Black Parade. Tracks like "Mama" and "The End" make "Bohemian Rhapsody" sound like "Blitzkrieg Bop." It's no coincidence that the disc feels as dizzyingly monumental as Green Day's American Idiot--after all, the two albums share the same label, producer, studio, janitorial team, and sense of apocalyptic dread. Similarly, The Black Parade will cast its creators in a completely new light. Despite its overly histrionic tendencies and a totally oddball cameo from Liza Minelli, it offers a clear signal that My Chemical Romance is ready to be taken seriously. --Aidin Vaziri
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