Great Stuff
Ryan J. Darcy | san francisco | 03/08/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am not much of a punk fan per se, so I was skeptical when my friend Danny pitched me an album of his friends "emo" music. Whatever. I was amazed at this bands stuff. From their vintage textures to their tight syncopations, they've got "it". I can't wait until they come to CA. If you are new to "emo", this is the place to start - even if the lame samples on here don't do justice to the winding, unpredictable compositions. Distortion out of nowhere. Lyrics so quiet that they are indistinguishable at times from mumbling. Great stuff."
Twothirtyeight In Their Formulative Years
Peter Swift | Cogan Station, PA United States | 09/25/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a fan of twothirtyeight, so my review may be a little biased. This album was dedicated to twothirtyeight's original Bassist: Kevin Glass; who died in a car accident before the album was recorded. Chris Staples (vocals/guitar) also makes reference to the tragedy on his most recent EP "Burned and Blistered." Anyhow, this album is very enjoyable, but not quite up to the level of more recent albums "Regulate the Chemicals" and "You Should Be Living." If you're a die-hard twothirtyeight fan, you definitely should get this album, even for the sole purpose of owning Staple's back-collection. The music doesn't have the catchy guitar hooks of recent albums, but it does have powerful guitars and great lyrics. The album is great...I don't like using the term "emo" but I guess this is probably a worthwhile use of it. It sounds a little bit like early Jimmy Eat World with the lyrical stylings more along the lines of Pedro the Lion. Even if you don't like the band, it would be worthwhile to purchase just for the value of selling it to diehard fans on ebay. Also, the coverart and insert is pretty and unique."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1