Where You Want to Be

by Taking Back Sunday

Overview

Where You Want to Be builds on the hardcore-power-meets-pop-skills of Taking Back Sunday's debut, Tell All Your Friends, and reveals the group to be, in many ways, a quintessential latter-day emo band. Not because they're redefining the style's sound, but because their music is defined by so many of emo's nearly cliche tendencies. A gerund-led band name? Check. Cryptically bittersweet titles like "Little Devotional"? Present and accounted for. Shouty, anthemic vocals, string-driven ballads like "New American Classic," and wordy, confessional lyrics ("Give me a chance? Whatever...you're so hit or miss, and that's so '93") are all in place as well. However, while Where You Want to Be might be more than a little (stereo)typical, it's not embarrassing; songs like "A Decade Under the Influence," "One Eighty by Summer," and "Number Five With a Bullet" do have some real impact, and show some songwriting growth since Tell All Your Friends. But since the band doesn't take the occasionally cringe-worthy risks of some of their emo brethren, Taking Back Sunday sometimes comes off as less than distinctive, and the album can sound like a generic soundtrack to generic teenage angst; even though it's a nearly universal subject, it should never sound routine. Where You Want to Be is definitely a solid album -- especially considering that it was recorded so soon after half the band was replaced -- but crafting something a little more unique would take Taking Back Sunday's music that much farther. [Where You Want to Be was released with a bonus CD of songs and videos from like-minded Victory Records artists, including Hawthorne Heights, Bayside, Action Action, and Silverstein.] ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	07/31/2012
Label:	Crystal Clear Sound / Victory Records
UPC:	0746105022812
Rank:	23177

Tracks

1. Set Phasers to Stun
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

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Taking Back Sunday   Primary Artist
Bayside   Primary Artist
Hawthorne Heights   Primary Artist
Action Action   Primary Artist
Atreyu   Primary Artist
Silverstein   Primary Artist
Nick Torres   Voices

Technical Credits

Mike Sapone   Program Assistant
Eddie Reyes   Group Member
Adam Lazzara   Group Member
Mark O'Connell   Group Member
Dan Jacobs   Composer
Alex Varkatzas   Composer
Fred Mascherino   Group Member
Oliver Strauss   Assistant
Shane Told   Composer
Matthew Rubano   Group Member
Lou Giordano   Producer,Mixing
Taking Back Sunday   Composer
Hawthorne Heights   Composer
Ted Jensen   Mastering
Brandon Saller   Composer
Brad Filip   Layout Design,Artwork
Stuart Karmatz   Technical Assistance
Travis Miguel   Composer
Todd Parker   Assistant