The Academy Is... - Fast Times at Barrington High
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Free Music Notes for Fast Times at Barrington High
Free Music Review: Not as bad as I thought it'd be
Hit: 4 Stars
That sounds very mean I know, but it is the truth. When I first heard the songs "About A Girl" and "Forever Young," I was dissappointed. They really aren't the best lyrics in the world, and the music is a little too pop. And then I read some reviews of the album which didn't exactly praise it.
But I still bought it. First time I listened, I didn't think it was that bad. After a few more listens, I could get into it. My favorite song, so far, is "Beware! Cougar!," mostly because I love hearing William ask the question, "Do you wanna tie me up?" Though some songs make me wonder if William did mess around a lot in high school, because some of the songs repeat that topic.
Out of The Academy Is... three studio albums, this probably is my least fav, but I do like it. (I can get into it way more than I did with Panic At The Disco's "Pretty. Odd." earlier this year. Now that was a major disappointment.) They really did mature on "Santi," and the lyrics seemed better. I'm glad to be out of high school, and why they call those days the best days of their lives in the album is beyond me. (Sure as hell wasn't for me.) I could compare this with the other albums, but it is as different from "Santi" as "Santi" was from "Almost Here." This really seems like it should have been there first album, so then the band would be maturing through the lyrics. But I don't need to keep comparing.
Only two songs really stand our for me lyrics wise, the rest kind of sound the same. But it is still a decent album. I'm actually only giving it 3.5, but feel it can be bumped up a half a star.
Free Music Review: If you're over 18, this album probably isn't for you.
Hit: 2 Stars
Of course, there are plenty of 18+ people who will like the album, but for a majority this one just isn't quite about mature enough content to hold interest for long.
First off, this is not a 'bad' album, so much as a bad album for a band like The Academy Is.... Where previous albums were about life and touched on love in a more roundabout way, Fast Times is a blatant Boy Meets Girl high school soundtrack.
The first half of the album is likable because it consists almost entirely of hooks with a few other lyrics thrown in to make an actual song, while the last few are so generic they completely fade into the background if you're doing something else and you don't even notice when one song progresses into the next.
Were this released by a new band, or even a boy band, it would be considered par for the course, and in fact it feels very much as if it were released specifically to appeal to an audience between 13 and 18 in an attempt to court a wider fan base. The lyrics, when one looks at them apart from the music, revolve around the chorus and hooks and often just seem like a mish-mash of pretty sounding words instead of an actual song. It's as if William Beckett tried to take a page out of Fall Out Boy's book by making meaning with seeming randomness, only with a bubblegum pop melody that's popular with kids pouring their money into Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana empire.
Make no mistake, the album will be popular with some. But for many young adults either in or graduated from college, whose lives revolve around things a little more complicated than passing notes to that girl or boy in homeroom, there are other groups singing about far more resonating things than a group of twenty-somethings waxing wistful about their high school years. In fact, far from being a 'feel good album' or a 'celebration of youth', Fast Times sounds more like The Academy Is...'s members had fairly sucky high school lives, if you can even pull any message at all out of what basically amounts to a bunch of repetative phrases put to music.
About A Girl, the first released song on the album that had so much hype around it, is actually fairly unclear in its message. I can't figure out if Beckett is singing about being in love, or pulling a fifth-grade "you didn't like me back then, so now I'm going to blatantly NOT sing about you now, so there". His Girl Friday may be about a girl cheating behind a boyfriend's back or it may be about a girl who left for another guy. The Test seems to be about dating somebody emotionally distant and barely interested, in a relationship doomed from the beginning. Rumored Nights follows that theme with another "she didn't put as much effort into the relationship as me" song.
The album is more about the drama that's so very important during high school years than about any real sort of growing up done during that time. For people who have moved on from the high school drama, it just doesn't resonate or mean very much. It's something you can put on in the background and bounce around to when in a good mood, sure, if you're not looking for anything too deep.
Style-wise, something about the album seems off. I'm by no means a musical genius, but much of the album sounds to me like Beckett is almost yelling to be heard over the music. In a lot of places it seems like he's singing out of his range...either going too low, like in the opening lines of Summer Hair = Forever Young, or going to a shouted, slightly-too-high in the chorus of His Girl Friday. I personally think that the album was too rushed in recording and not polished as well as it could be. Possibly in an attempt to get it out quickly in time for TAI's post-Warped tour dates. It's very probably that all of the album's shortcomings are a result of that rush, from the seemingly half-finished lyrics to some points where the lyric melody even seems to be in discord with the song's music.
In the current market, it's not a bad album. The song's chorus lines are memorable even if nothing else about them is, but I don't think any of the songs have what it takes to stay on top of anybody's interest for too long. There are simply deeper, more polished albums that don't try so hard to straddle genres being released right now. If you're a true lover of The Academy Is... rather than a fair-weather fan, then buy the album to show your support. Chances are you'll like at least one or two songs, even if they don't stick with you for too long.
Free Music Review: "We're almost here again"
Hit: 5 Stars
Almost Here was a great album, with songs that grew on me with time, especially after I saw the band live. I eagerly awaited their next release and I remember clearly the day I rode my bike several miles to go buy Santi, the day it was released. However, that album, with a few exceptions, was full of largely disappointing tracks and was easily forgotten.
When I heard the first single off of Fast Times At Barrington High, I fell instantly in love with it. The academy is... had finally delivered the follow-up to Almost Here that I'd been hoping for. With lyrics I can relate to, melodies that are catchy but not too poppy, and skillful arrangements that reflect a band that knows it's potential and it's limitations, Fast TImes is a pop-punk masterpiece.
On tracks like "His Girl Friday" and "The Test," the choruses are hard-driving, but the band is selfless enough to let William's voice shine through during the verses. And those aren't even the best songs!
I love every song on this record, but my favorites would have to Rumored Nights and Automatic Eyes.
This album is a must-have for anyone who appreciates catchy hooks and feel-good songs.
P.S. To all the people who said that TAI were regressing in lyrical maturity from Santi- The lyrics on Santi were trying WAY too hard to sound sophisticated and impressive, while really they didn't cut it for most of the fans. Fast Times is an album by a band who not only realizes they are still young, but has chosen to embrace their youth. At least for the time being.
Way to be honest TAI!!!!
Free Music Review: Speechless
Hit: 1 Stars
I do not remember the last time that I bought a cd that I wish I could have taken back. I have been a fan since their first album like many others. Although I don't feel that they should have kept doing stuff like their first album, I am extremely disappointed to see a band that has so much talent regress back into high school instead of progress into a more deep, complete band. I don't know what else to say. Unless you like songs with no meaning and catchy melodies, don't buy it. Goodbye The Academy Is...
R.I.P. Almost Here and Santi, your songs will live on in my heart
Free Music Review: Enjoying The Fast Times!
Hit: 4 Stars
Why did a band that was seemingly maturing, turn back time to relive high school glory days? I don't know exactly but they do the job quite well. It's a gamble when a band goes for the thematic concept album. Some are hits (Pink Floyds' The Wall) and others are misses (Smashing Pumpkins' Machina). However, "The Academy Is..." pulls it off on songs like "About A Girl", "Summer Hair (Forever Young)", and "Beware Cougar!". The music represents high school -- it's fun yet at times, complicated. It's a time to enjoy the freedoms of youth, yet also a time to look toward the next chapter in life. "The Academy Is..." captures that feeling perfectly. Although the album lacks the musical and emotional depth of "Santi", it's fitting. These songs are from the perspective of an 18 year old kid that is coming of age, so to speak. This album is almost a prelude to "Almost Here" and "Santi" - a back story - and a very enjoyable one at that. As William Beckett sings in "After the Last Midtown Show": "Right here, the best days of our lives". Very true.