The Higher- On Fire

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: March 6, 2007

Genre: Pop Rock, Alternative

Track Listing

1. Insurance
2. Guts
3. Rock My Body
4. Weapons Wired
5. Histrionics
6. Movements
7. Carly
8. Darkpop
9. Dare
10. 31 Floors
11. Our Movie Rules
12. Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix)

The Higher lineup on this CD:
Seth Trotter- vocals
Tom Oakes- guitar
Robert Ragan- guitar
Jason Centeno- bass
Pat Harter- drums

About The Higher: 
The Higher was originally formed when the founding members were in high school, and it was called September Star. They released two EPs: Star is Dead in 2003 and Pace Yourself in 2006, as well as 3 CDs: Histrionics in 2005, On Fire in 2007, and It's Only Natural in 2009. After the series of lineup changes, the band broke up in 2012.

My Opinion about The Higher:
Honestly, I don't have much of an opinion on them. This is the only CD I have by them, and I bought it on a bit of a whim. While I like this CD, I haven't gotten any other CDs by them. I guess I like them, but I'm just not blown away enough to want to get more of their music.

About the CD:  

On Fire was The Higher's second full-length CD, released in 2007. It was their first CD released on Epitaph records. While signed to Epitaph, they adopted a more poppy style than they had on previous CDs.

IMHO: 
It's a pretty good CD, but I tend to overlook it quite a bit on my iTunes. Since it's not by a band I SUPER love, and it's just a good-ish CD, I just tend to overlook it and forget it's there.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Insurance- 9.5/10. It's a great opener, and is definitely one of the most exciting songs on the CD. I especially really like the breakdown with the heavy guitar.

Guts- 6/10. I'm not a huge fan of this song. It just seems like it doesn't go anywhere. It tries to build up to the chorus, but it's hardly more interesting than the verses. The bridge is pretty cool, but it's the only standout part for me.

Rock My Body- 7/10. I have a lot of the same complaints about this song that I had about Guts. However, it has an interesting beat, and I like the bridge and following guitar solo. But other than that, it's a pretty static and uninteresting song. Especially the over-autotuned bit at the end. I get that it's for artistic effect, I just don't like it.

Weapons Wired- 8.5/10. I really like the Spanish influence of the acoustic guitars in the verses and the way they contrast with the very rock-driven electric guitars.

Histrionics- 9/10. I think this is one of the most interesting songs on the CD. It's very simple, but that's what makes it really cool.

Movements- 8/10. While I think it's a bit static like some of the songs before it, I really enjoy the chorus, especially the vocals. It's not outstanding, but I think it's pretty cool.

Carly- 9.5/10. This is just a fun, light-hearted song. I really like the vocal line in the chorus. I especially really like the bridge. This is just one of those songs that technically isn't that great, but I really like it anyway.

Darkpop- 9/10. The bridge of this song is one of the highlights of the CD for me. It's so cool with just the vocals and the drums. The rest of the song is really cool too, but that's just SO great.

Dare- 9/10. This one is a lot like Carly in the fact that it's just really fun and has a light-hearted feel to it. It's so chill. The guitar part is especially cool in this one.

31 Floors- 9.5/10. Another of the best songs on the CD. I just really like the way that the guitar and drums interact with the vocal line and absolutely love the chorus. This could be my favorite song on the CD... maybe. I'm not sure I really have a favorite.

Our Movie Rules- 7/10. It's ok. The chorus is kinda cool. Nothing about this song really stands out for me as being either great or awful.

Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix)- 5/10. I'm not a fan of remixes. It sounds like it was a pretty interesting song before it was remixed. I should probably look it up when I finish this.

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Favorite Songs: Insurance, Histrionics, Carly, Darkpop, Dare, and 31 Floors.

Least Favorite Songs: Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix) and Guts.

Video! 

Insurance music video

31 Floors

Rating: 7.5/10. While the songs averaged to ~8, I docked it .5 for the fact that it's so disjunct. I had forgotten how many of these songs I really enjoy, and the main reason I forgot about them was because the other half of the songs aren't interesting.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What did you think of The Higher? Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

The Spill Canvas- No Really, I'm Fine

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: October 2, 2007

Genre: Emo, Acoustic, Pop Rock

Track Listing

1. Reckless Abandonment
2. All Over You
3. Battles
4. The Truth
5. Saved
6. Hush Hush
7. Low Fidelity
8. Connect the Dots
9. Bleed, Everyone's Doing It
10. Appreciation and the Bomb
11. One Thing Is for Sure
12. Lullaby

The Spill Canvas lineup on this CD:
Nick Thomas- Guitar, Vocals
Dan Ludeman- Guitar, backup vocals
Landon Heil- Bass
Joe Beck- drums, percussion

L-R: Landon, Nick, Dan, Joe

About The Spill Canvas: 
The Spill Canvas have been together since 2002, and in that time have released 7 CDs and 5 EPs. Their most successful CDs to date have been 2005's One Fell Swoop and 2007's No Really, I'm Fine. In the earlier stages of the band, their music was mostly categorized as emo, and much of it was acoustic or had a very raw sound to it. Progressing forward, their music became more pop rock/ pop punk.

My Opinion about The Spill Canvas:
While they don't make it into my top 10 bands ever, I'm a big fan of theirs. I was actually able to go to one of their concerts in October 2012, and got to meet the guys! Nick was a total sweetheart, and I actually got to talk to him for a while. It was really cool. I have all of their music, although there are definitely some CDs that I just don't listen to much at all.

Aww, I was just so excited!

Also, as a side note, the songs they performed at the concert that were from this CD were: Reckless Abandonment (their first song of the set!), Connect The Dots (introduced by Nick saying "this one's about sex."), Battles (which I forgot they did until looking through my pictures from the concert), and All Over You (Their finale song, since it's the most popular of their songs). I think they also might have done Hush Hush, but honestly, it was more than a year ago, and if it's not documented, I have no idea.

About the CD:  

This was their most commercially successful CD, getting into the Billboard 200 and reaching #2 on the Top Heatseekers chart. This CD has more of the pop rock sound that becomes more and more prevalent in their music throughout time, but there's definitely a mix of the emo in there.

IMHO: 
This is definitely my favorite of their CDs. Many of my all-time favorite songs by The Spill Canvas come from this CD. While I like some songs better than others (as always!), there honestly isn't a single dud on this CD. 

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

Reckless Abandonment- 9/10. It's a really powerful opener- which is why it was also a concert opener. It's fun to jam to, and it was definitely a strobe light song.
All Over You- 10/10. This one's definitely a fan favorite, and there's a reason. This song just screams SINGLE. The chorus has such a great beat to it, and I absolutely love it.
Battles- 8/10. It's not forgettable, per se, but I did have to listen to this one over and over to figure out a rating. Honestly, it's just not as spectacular as the rest of the CD. It's not a bad song, it's just not as good.
The Truth- 8.5/10. Once again, this song shines on the chorus. The way the guitar and drums combine is just great, and the guitar part between the chorus and verse is just great. And like most great songs by them, it's just so sassy.
Saved- 10/10. A slower song for them, but a very successful one. As much as I love their cheeky songs, it's nice to see their softer side.
Hush Hush- 9.5/10. And then we jump right back into the cheekiness. This time, I really like the interaction of the guitar and drums in the verses. Also, telling her to tie the mattress to her back makes me laugh every time.
Low Fidelity- 8/10. I really like the brass on this song. Once again, the chorus is where this song shines, but the verses aren't really anything special.
Connect the Dots- 8.5/10. Nick wasn't kidding- this is a very sensual song. It's also a bit of a different sound for the band, which is really cool. Not my favorite, but I really do like it.
Bleed, Everyone's Doing It- 10/10. One of my favorite songs by them. I just absolutely love the message and it's SO sassy that it hurts.
Appreciation and the Bomb- 10/10. The chorus contains one of my all-time favorite lyrics (If there's one thing I've learned, it's that we never feel the heat until we get burned/ But we try so hard not to die, sometimes we forget to appreciate life.), and it's just so beautiful. 
One Thing Is for Sure- 7.5/10. I like it. It's ok. It's nothing special, but I like it.
Lullaby- 8.5/10. It's very soft for them, and it really works for them. I think this lullaby would help me go to sleep. It's just so pretty and vulnerable.

Favorite Songs: Appreciation and the Bomb, All Over You, Saved, Hush Hush, and Bleed, Everyone's Doing It.

Least Favorite Songs: Honestly, One Thing Is for Sure is the only so-so one. Battles is maybe next.

Video! 

All Over You music video

Saved music video

Rating: 9/10. I knew this CD was going to get a 9 rating before I even rated the songs, but that choice is made even better by the fact that the songs' average was nearly exactly 9. CDs like this are the reason that I enjoy doing The CDs On My Shelf. This helps me to rediscover CDs that I genuinely love, but don't listen to as often as I would like to.

 Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What did you think of The Spill Canvas? Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

The Jonas Brothers- Jonas Brothers

Release Date: August 7, 2007

Genre: pop, pop rock

Track Listing

1. S.O.S.
2. Hold On
3. Goodnight and Goodbye
4. That's Just The Way We Roll
5. Hello Beautiful
6. Still In Love With You
7. Australia
8. Games
9. When You Look Me In The Eyes
10. Inseparable
11. Just Friends
12. Hollywood
13. Year 3000
14. Kids of The Future

The Jonas Brothers are:
Nick Jonas
Joe Jonas
Kevin Jonas

About The Jonas Brothers: Ok, you all already know about the Jonas Brothers. I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you much about them.

My Opinion about The Jonas Brothers: They first became popular when I was like 12/13, and they were my favorite musicians. I was really in love with Nick more than anything else, but I really did like their music. This was, of course, before my taste in music changed to be more slanted towards alternative music rather than pop music.

About the CD: It's the Jonas Brothers' 2nd CD. I would definitely say that their CDs diminished in quality as they went along, so this one is one of their better ones. I actually woke up early the day that this CD came out, and I bought it as soon as the music store in town opened in the morning.  

IMHO: I actually still like a lot of the music on this, even though it's not the genre I would really seek out now. I guess it's a nostalgia thing. 

Favorite songs: My favorite son on the CD is probably Just Friends. 

Other gems: SOS, Goodnight And Goodbye, That's Just The Way We Roll, Hello Beautiful, When You Look Me In The Eyes, and Hollywood. Fun fact, Year 3000 is NOT originally by the Jonas Brothers! It was written and performed by a British band named Busted. They released it circa 2002. The lyrics are a bit different as well. The Jonas Brothers had to make the lyrics more tame for Disney. Either way, I love Busted too much to actually enjoy the Jonas Brothers' one!

Video!

Just Friends by the Jonas Brothers

Rating: 7/10. I still like this CD and enjoy the music for some reason, even though it's definitely not what I would seek out at this point in my life, or even think that it's very good quality. Heavy dose of childhood.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! I'm hoping that soon, I'll get one of my favorite CDs or something I listen to a lot, so I can have more to say about it! What did you think? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? Did you expect me to have music by the JoBros? Let me know all of this in the comments. Also, any opinion on the time? I have them automatically set to post at 12. Unless I get any other preferences or info, they'll be posted at 12- maybe not every day, but many days. Hope you enjoyed! Check back at noon tomorrow to see if there's a new post! Thanks for reading!