Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 8.0
Production: 9.0
Originality: 9.0
Tracklisting
2. Bonus Mosh pt. II
3. A Decade Under The Influence
4. This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)
5. The Union
6. New American Classic
7. I Am Fred Astaire
8. One-Eighty By Summer
9. Number Five With A Bullet
10. Little Devotional
11. Slowdance On The Inside
Taking Back Sunday, with some drama and lineup changes, released "Where You Want To Be" as their parting record with Victory Records. Initially disappointed, it took awhile, but now I realize that this album is nothing short of brilliant. Adam and co took their familiar, dual-vocal chanting to the next level, with even more solid melodies and songcraft. "Where You Want To Be" rocks like the Cure at one point, then goes straight into that familiar bantering between (now) Fred formerly of Breaking Pangaea and Adam.
Songs like "One-Eighty By Summer" bring about that familiar sincerity and are straight-forward pop songs. Fred's new style of vocals maintains the ability to bounce back and forth, see-sawing with Adam, but he is a little more aggressive, even screaming on occassion.
Though this CD doesn't revolutionize the music scene in the way "Tell All Your Friends" seemed to do, and while the band hasn't completely reinvented themselves, "Where You Want To Be" takes Taking Back Sunday to the next level, maintaining the elements that made their fans love them in the first place and getting even closer to radio-friendly pop songs.