The Audition- Self-Titled Album

Check out my other blogs as well:
From Kristen's Brain... A mish-mosh of stuff my brain says that I like.
One Day Tumblr Challenges... I do entire Tumblr challenges in a single post
Adventures of a Makeup Noob... I talk about and review makeup products.

Hey, y'all! Once again, it's been a while since I've been on here! I've been blogging quite a bit since getting out of school, and I finally was able to get on this one. 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: April 28, 2009

Genre: Alternative, Pop-Punk

Track Listing

1. The Running Man
2. The Way You Move
3. My Temperature's Rising
4. Love With A Motive
5. Stand On Your Feet
6. It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone)
7. Over My Head
8. Los Angeles
9. Everybody Is Someone Else's Secret
10. Sign. Steal. Deliver.

The Audition lineup on this CD:
Danny Stevens- lead vocals
Seth Johnson- guitar
Timmy Klepek- bass
Ryan O'Connor- drums, percussion

The Audition, L to R: Seth, Ryan, Timmy, Danny

About The Audition: 
The Audition has been a band since 2003. So far, they've released 4 CDs: Controversy Loves Company in 2005, Champion in 2008, Self-Titled Album in 2009, and Great Danger in 2010. They left their record label in 2010, and in 2012 they released their first EP, Chapter II. Since then, they haven't done anything and I haven't heard anything from them. Danny had vocal surgery in 2012, and is about to do his first solo concert since that surgery. Supposedly, the band is still together, but their twitter hasn't been touched in ages. Danny's twitter handle is still @auditiondanny, so I'm keeping up hope that they're still together.  

My Opinion about The Audition:
They're in my top 5 bands, for sure. All four of their CDs are really great, and they get really regular play on my iPod. They're one band who hasn't ever drastically changed their sound. They have one CD that's sub-par compared to the others, but overall, I really enjoy them. I've created several Pandora stations off of my favorite bands, and The Audition's station is one of the few that almost never plays a song I don't like. So, they're a pretty good representation of my taste in music.

About the CD:  
This is The Audition's 3rd CD. It deviates just a little from the sound of Champion, which was released just the year before. Self-Titled Album and Great Danger (2010) have fairly similar styles, though as I said before, their sound has stayed fairly consistent. 

IMHO: 
This is one of my favorite CDs of theirs. My only real complaint is that there aren't more songs! The first 3 songs are the strongest for me. Each of them has a unique and interesting sound, and there's definitely a reason that My Temperature's Rising is their most recognizable single. It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone) delivers the CD's softest song, which begins acoustic, but gets up into a good rock sound. A few of the songs sound similar, but overall it's really enjoyable.

I'm going to try something new on this one. I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

The Running Man- 10/10. I didn't like this one at first, but it's really grown on me and I think it's a really interesting song.
The Way You Move- 10/10. Maybe not the most creative song in the world, but it's so much fun to listen to.
My Temperature's Rising- 10/10. Definitely my favorite song on the CD. It's got a really cool sound to it.
Love With A Motive- 8.5/10. Not much of an explanation for this one, I just enjoy it!
Stand On Your Feet- 9/10. I really like the lyrics in this one, especially the combo of the music and lyrics in the chorus.
It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone)- 9.5/10. This is another one that grew on me. This is really odd to say about a song by The Audition, but it's a really pretty song!
Over My Head- 8/10. One of the weaker songs. It's a pretty typical sound for the band, and isn't quite as memorable as the other songs on the CD.
Los Angeles- 9.5/10. This one's kinda interesting, because the guitar isn't as prevalent for a lot of the song, so the vocals and drums are really important. I think it sounds really cool.
Everybody Is Someone Else's Secret- 8/10. Like Over My Head, this one is very typical for the band- nothing distinctly interesting or cool.
Sign. Steal. Deliver.- 9/10. I think this one's another interesting song. Not much else to say, it's just a cool song.

Favorite Songs: The Running Man, The Way You Move, My Temperature's Rising, It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone), and Los Angeles.

Least Favorite Songs: Over My Head and Everybody Is Somebody Else's Secret. There's nothing wrong with these songs, and I do really like the whole CD, but these are the less memorable ones of the bunch.

Video! 

My Temperature's Rising music video

The Way You Move

 Rating: 9/10. 9 is the closest to the actual average of the ratings I gave the songs, so I'll put it at a 9.

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

Punk Goes Pop Volume 5- Various Artists

Hey, y'all! It's been a while since I've been on here! But, I've been wanting to do a blog for a while, and decided to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle and, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: November 6, 2012

Genre: Alternative, Post-Hardcore, Punk

Track Listing
Since This CD is comprised entirely of different bands' covers of songs, I'll list the band beside the track.

1. Grenade- Memphis May Fire
2. Call Me Maybe- Upon This Dawning
3. Somebody That I Used To Know- Mayday Parade ft. Vic Fuentes
4. Glad You Came- We Came as Romans
5. Some Nights- Like Moths to Flames
6. Billie Jean- Breathe Carolina
7. We Found Love- Forever The Sickest Kids
8. Boyfriend- Issues
9. Girls Just Want to Have Fun- The Maine ft. Adam Lazzara
10. Payphone- Crown The Empire
11. Paradise- Craig Owens
12. Mercy- The Word Alive
13. A** Back Home- Secrets

About the CD:  Punk Goes Pop 5 is the most recent release in Fearless Records' "Punk Goes..." series. Besides pop, there have also been releases covering Rap/Hip Hop, Metal, and (my personal favorite) Classic Rock. Other releases include 2 acoustic "Punk Goes..." CDs, as well as an 80's CD and 90's CD. Punk Goes Pop has been the longest running series. The next release will be Punk Goes Christmas sometime near the end of this year.

IMHO: I'm a big fan of the "Punk Goes..." series. The only thing that bothers me about them is that I only enjoy a certain level of unclean vocals (screaming) in songs, and often, I'd just prefer if the songs were sung rather than some bands deciding to scream and sing. I feel like each CD, though good, is hit and miss. There are some I'm really excited about and others that I just never listen to. I also sometimes have some issues with the songs they consider to be "pop." Some songs they choose are alternative songs that happened to make it big on the radio, and I don't think that makes them pop, even though they are popular. But I'll get more into that when I get into the songs.

Since there are multiple artists on this CD, I'm going to do something a little different and talk about each song and artist individually... as well as the original song, because there are some songs on this CD that I had definite opinions on before hearing their covers.


Grenade- Memphis May Fire: I think this is a pretty good cover. I don't really listen to Memphis May Fire, but from what I have heard, it seems like they mostly have unclean vocals, so I enjoyed hearing what clean vocals they have to offer. Not my favorite song on the CD, but not a bad start either. I definitely prefer this cover over the original track, but the original isn't too bad. Bruno Mars is pretty OK in my book.

Call Me Maybe- Upon This Dawning: I have mixed feelings about this song. I really like the parts with the clean vocals. I'm not a big fan of this band's style of unclean vocals. I've never heard of this band, and they're also the only band on the CD that doesn't have a Wikipedia page. So, they seem to be relatively unknown. Overall, I like the clean vocals/vocalist, and what they've done with the instruments. It's hard to be worse than the original, but I feel like if they'd stuck with clean vocals, it would have been more successful.

Somebody That I Used To Know- Mayday Parade ft. Vic Fuentes: Mayday Parade has been featured on most "Punk Goes..." CDs that I have, and for a good reason: they do really great covers. They improve on the music but keep the clean vocals, which is how I really like to have it done. Also, they have Vic Fuentes (lead singer of Pierce The Veil, one of my favorite bands) singing the girl parts, which is just perfect. As always, I think they delivered a great cover. I also really loved the original song, so I was really excited that they were covering it. Since I love the original so much, it's hard to beat it, but I feel like this is definitely right on par with it. This is one of those songs that I thought shouldn't be considered pop, but this is my favorite song on the CD, so I'll let it slide.

Glad You Came- We Came as Romans: I actually haven't listened to this track very much. But, as I'm listening to it right now, I'm really liking it. I like the way that they're including the unclean vocals as the background vocals and as part of one verse. I haven't listened to much from this band, but I'm pretty sure they're another that's really heavy on the unclean vocals. I'm really liking the clean vocalist for this band as well. I didn't really have much of an opinion on the song before, and I'd have to say I really enjoy what they did with the cover.

Some Nights- Like Moths to Flames: When I discovered the original Some Nights in early 2012, I fell in love. That's why this cover hurts a bit. I like the grit that they added to the beginning of the song, and honestly, it's a pretty good cover (a bit heavy on the unclean vocals, but that's subjective). But, I just can't like it. I like the original too much.

Billie Jean- Breathe Carolina: Don't hurt me, but I'm really not a Michael Jackson fan. I like that this cover is a nice little relief from the heavy post-hardcore of the majority of the first few tracks... well, for most of the song. There's a cool breakdown at the end. This is another band I haven't really listened to much outside of this song, but I like this cover. And I like it better than the original, but only because I'm not a Michael fan. Seriously, you're talking to the girl who prefers both the Alien Ant Farm and dueling cellos versions of Smooth Criminal a lot more than the Michael version. Sorry, not sorry.

We Found Love- Forever The Sickest Kids: I really really hate Rihanna. Like a lot. She's probably among my least favorite singers ever. I do, however, like Forever The Sickest Kids. But this song, not so much. The way they arranged some of it is just weird and there was randomly screaming even though FTSK doesn't have unclean vocals normally. I'm just not a fan of the way they handled the cover.

Boyfriend- Issues: I feel like you already probably have an idea of how I feel about Justin Bieber. I absolutely cannot stand him, and the first time I heard the original song, I cringed so many times I probably looked like I was having a seizure. My reaction to this was the exact opposite. I really love this cover, thought I'd never heard of the band before this song. I like the unclean vocals and the way they're incorporated into the song. The clean vocalist isn't my favorite, but I think his voice works for the song. I also really enjoy tricking my friends with it, and when they actually hear it, they appreciate my music a bit more. Overall, this is one of my favorites on the CD.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun- The Maine ft. Adam Lazzara: I'm not a big fan of the original song, and I can't really say that I've ever heard it all the way through. I do really like the cover though. The Maine is one of my personal favorite bands featured on the CD, and I also like Taking Back Sunday, the band Adam Lazzara sings in. I wish they'd done a different song, because there's not too much that could convince me to really like this song. But, I do like what they did with it, so kudos to that!

Payphone- Crown The Empire: Crown The Empire is another band I believe is mostly screaming. Once again, I feel like the song would be stronger with just clean vocals, but I really like the way they incorporated the unclean vocals. They seemed to fit in really well. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the cover, but I definitely prefer the original. It's really hard for anyone to top Adam Levine in my mind.

Paradise- Craig Owens: This is another one that left me a bit annoyed by what they consider to be "pop". Sure, this song became really popular, but it's still an alternative song. This cover got some crap for being lackluster, but I like that it's true to the original. HOWEVER, I feel like it may be a bit too true to the original. I wish it was just a little more punk. Just a little more punkified and it would get a significant amount more play on my iTunes. Don't get me wrong, though- I still really enjoy this cover!

Mercy- The Word Alive: My least favorite on the album. They literally just scream their way through a crappy song, and then do a barely intelligible rap later in the song. I dunno, I just wasn't impressed. I think I understood maybe like two words of the lyrics. Two thumbs down.

A** Back Home- Secrets: I've never even heard of this band before, but I like what they did with the song. I like the difference between the verses with unclean vocals and heavy guitar and the chorus with minimal instruments. Definitely far above the original song.

Favorite Songs: I'd have to say that my favorite covers are definitely Somebody That I Used To Know, Boyfriend, Paradise, and Grenade. I also like Glad You Came, Payphone, and A** Back Home.

Video! 

Somebody That I Used To Know cover

Boyfriend cover (lyric video)


Rating: 6/10. Beside the few winners, quite a few of these songs are completely mediocre.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? What did you think of punk going pop? Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

McFly- Motion In The Ocean

Hello, again! Did you miss me? First of all, you may have noticed that this blog has been moved to a new account. YES, it is still me! This is simply my normal account. Putting it on my main account makes it easier for me to get it written. And I can cross-promote my blogs easier as well ^-^ 

Release Date: November 6, 2006

Genre: pop rock, pop punk

Track Listing

1. We Are The Young
2. Star Girl
3. Please Please
4. Sorry's Not Good Enough
5. Bubble Wrap
6. Transylvania
7. Lonely
8. Little Joanna
9. Friday Night
10. Walk In The Sun
11. Home Is Where The Heart Is
12. Silence Is A Scary Sound (Hidden Track)

McFly is:
Tom Fletcher- lead vocals, guitar, keyboard, piano, ukulele
Danny Jones- lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, producer
Dougie Poynter- bass guitar, vocals, guitar
Harry Judd- drums, percussion

About McFly: A lot of this is copied from my post about their Greatest Hits album. They were formed in 2003, and have had the same lineup for a decade. They've released 5 studio albums: Room On The 3rd Floor (2004), Wonderland (2005), Motion In The Ocean (2006), Radio:ACTIVE (2008), and Above The Noise (2010). Their other albums are soundtracks, live, and compilations. Each of their CDs has a distinct sound. Room On The 3rd Floor, their debut album, actually broke a Beatles record in 2004. McFly became the youngest band whose debut CD debuted at #1 on the UK charts. A little obscure and seemingly unimportant, but it's a small victory. This album definitely has a Beach Boys vibe. 2005's Wonderland is definitely a lot more orchestral, and actually includes an orchestral piece composed by Tom. 2006's Motion In The Ocean & 2008's Radio:ACTIVE are the most similar of their albums, and are my personal favorites (Radio:ACTIVE is my personal favorite album ever). These two definitely showcase the band's rock side. Above The Noise, their 2010 release, is more of an electropop album, and the weakest, in my opinion.


My Opinion about McFly: (Once again, mostly copied from the last one) As I said on my last post, they're my absolute favorite band. Not many Americans know about them, but I love them. I actually first saw them when they were in Just My Luck. I forgot about them and then in 2007 (my Jo Bro obsession time) I was watching an interview with the JoBros where Nick said his favorite song was Transylvania by McFly. I watched the video and thought it was weird, and again, I forgot about them. (Transylvania is now among my all-time favorite McFly songs!). It wasn't until I discovered that the Jonas Brothers got their song, Year 3000, from the band Busted that I actually started listening to McFly. The Busted guys are close friends with McFly, which is how I really discovered McFly. And when I realized that they were the band in Just My Luck, everything really clicked. Anyway, long story long, it was a weird winding road to discovering them, but I really love them, and I love all of the members. Tom is my favorite, though. Yes, Tom of the wedding speech fame. I've told everyone for years that Tom is perfect, and now people understand. McFly is also the exception to the dumb blonde rule. Tom, the only natural blonde, is the brain, and Danny, the only one who's been brunette for 99% of the time he's been in the band, is the lovably dim-witted front-man. (OK, he's not really dumb, but it IS a running joke that he's the slow one... Because he thought an egg was a vegetable. Poor boy)

 About the CD:  It was released in 2006, just a year after they released Wonderland and the soundtrack to Just My Luck. Motion in the Ocean shows a relatively large change from the sound of Motion In The Ocean. In my opinion, the Motion in the Ocean sound is the one that they held onto the longest, and the one that I consider to be "their sound." Both this CD and their 2008 CD, Radio:ACTIVE, have more of a rock sound than either of the ones before or after.   

IMHO: It's my second favorite McFly CD, after Radio:ACTIVE. I do, however, feel that it has some really high highs, and some pretty low lows. For example, of the 12 songs, 4 of them are among my top 15 (if you want the breakdown, 2 of them are in my top 5, 1 is in 6-10, and 1 is in the 11-15 range). HOWEVER, about 3 of them find themselves among my all-time least favorite McFly songs... which still isn't a bad place to be, since I love all of their songs, but there is quite a distinct range there.

Favorite songs: Sorry's Not Good enough and Transylvania are both in my top 5 McFly songs ever ('Sorry' finds itself at #2, and Transylvania is #4). Star Girl is either 6 or 7. Bubble Wrap falls somewhere between 11 and 15, but I can't remember where. All four of those are just amazing. 

Other gems: I absolutely LOVE Little Joanna. Friday Night is also a fun one. I also like Please, Please and We Are The Young.

Video!

Sorry's Not Good Enough music video

Transylvania music video

Rating: 9.5/10. This is one of my all time favorite CDs. Some of my all-time favorite songs are on it, and it's just overall really awesome. Even the worst songs on the CD are really good.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Are you glad to see me back? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? What did you think of McFly? Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Still taking comments on the time they're posted, because if you haven't noticed, I schedule them to post at the same time, as I'm either asleep or at work at noon! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

Apologies!

Sincerest apologies to anyone hoping for posts in the past week! Since I've had time off from work, my family has been in the Black Hills, seeing Mount Rushmore and such, and our hotel's wifi was seriously crappier than my campus' wifi at school. Which is saying a lot. It was literally nonexistent. So, I've only had phone internet, and even that only rarely worked and the blogger app is pretty limited. Anyway, definitely a post tomorrow, as I'm otw home now! See you tomorrow!

Pierce The Veil- Collide With The Sky

Release Date: July 17, 2012

Genre: post-hardcore

Track Listing

1. May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep Tonight
2. Hell Above
3. A Match Into Water
4. King For A Day (Ft. Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens)
5. Bulls In The Bronx
6. Props & Mayhem
7. Tangled In The Great Escape (Ft. Jason Butler
8. I'm Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket
9. The First Punch
10. One Hundred Sleepless Nights
11. Staind Class And Colorful Tears
12. Hold On Till May (Ft. Lindsay Stamey)
13. I'm Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket (alt. version)
14. Hold On 'Till May (acoustic)

Pierce The Veil is:
Vic Fuentes- lead vocals, guitar, keyboard
Tony Perry- lead guitar
Jaime Preciado- bass, backup vocals
Mike Fuentes- drums, percussion

PTV, L-R: Jaime, Tony, Vic, Mike

About Pierce The Veil: The band was formed in 2006 by brothers Vic and Mike. Jaime and Tony joined the band in 2007. Collide With The Sky is the band's 3rd CD, after A Flair For The Dramatic in 2007 and Selfish Machines in 2010. A Flair For The Dramatic was actually released before Jaime and Tony joined, so the first PTV album is all the Fuentes brothers! PTV fans (especially those on Tumblr) often think of the bands Sleeping With Sirens and All Time Low when thinking of PTV. The 3 bands are all close friends and have done tours together. Sleeping With Sirens is especially compared to PTV because, like Kellin Quinn from SWS, Vic has a very unique voice that is especially high pitched for a guy. And, of course, on "King For A Day" on this album, the two collab!

My Opinion about Pierce The Veil: I really like them! I've only been listening to them since January, but I've definitely fallen in love with their music. I really like the unique tone to Vic's voice. There's seriously NO mistaking him with anyone else- not even Kellin. PTV is definitely in my top 20 bands, but that's about as far as they go... right now, at least. The more I listen to their music, especially Collide With The Sky, the more I want to move them up on the totem pole.

About the CD:  Since its release last year, it's been a real success for the band. Many consider it to be their best album to date. One key to that success is "King For A Day" because of Kellin Quinn, making the song essentially a PTV/SWS collab, and those are pretty much the two biggest bands in post-hardcore. King For A Day was voted as the best collab of 2012 by Alternative Press readers.

IMHO: It's definitely my favorite Pierce The Veil album. The other two were good, but I just REALLY like Collide With The Sky.

Favorite songs: King For A Day, for sure. I love the combination of Kellin and Vic and their screaming and singing. I also really love Hell Above as well.

Other gems: Bulls In The Bronx, Props & Mayhem, I'm Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket (the first version, One Hundred Sleepless Nights, Staind Glass And Colorful Tears

Video!

 Music Video for King For A Day ft. Kellin Quinn

Music Video for Hell Above

Rating: 8/10. I really like several songs, but don't listen to many of the songs past those.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! What did you think? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? What do you think of Pierce The Veil? Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Still taking comments on the time they're posted, because if you haven't noticed, I schedule them to post at the same time, as I'm either asleep or at work at noon! Hope you enjoyed! Check back at noon tomorrow, because there will definitely be a new post. Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

Schedule for The CDs On My Shelf... Kinda

OK, as you can see, there is NOT a new post today. My humblest apologies. There will definitely be one on Monday, and I even have a CD randomly selected and everything. I figured I would take this time to create a pseudo schedule for the blog. And by pseudo... I mean EXTREMELY pseudo. I only have a couple things nailed down.

For starters, I'm 99% sure that I'm not going to post on Sundays, partially because I have to wake up early every Sunday and I just don't want to stay up super late on Saturday writing a post. I can function on very little sleep, but I'd rather not test it too much.

I work ~30 hours every week, so I usually have a couple days off. My plan is to have at least 3 posts a week. That'll be more for busier weeks. On an average week, it'll be about 4. And if I'm having an exceptionally free week, I'll squeeze in a fifth. For example, the week starting June 30, I have more days off than I usually do. So I'll probably do 5 that week. Overall, since I have schedules a while in advance, at the end of each post, I'll give y'all an idea when the next one will be. For example, I know that my next post will be on Monday at noon. I have Monday off, so you'll be getting another on Tuesday, and probably another on Wednesday, since I don't work late Tuesday night. I'm unsure after that, but there definitely won't be another until Saturday. So keep posted for that. From here on out, just make sure you're reading my final paragraph, because I'll definitely give you info about when the next post will be out. But for now, just know that some sweet sweet music is headed your way on Monday, and IMO, it's a pretty good one! It's also another fairly recent one as well- July 2012. Guesses and comments are welcome, and the answer will come 24 hours from the time this is posted. Happy guessing!

McFly- Memory Lane (The Best of McFly) [Deluxe Edition]

Finally, a CD I love... My favorite band's newest Greatest Hits CD!!!

Release Date: November 26, 2012

Genre: pop rock, pop punk

Track Listing
Disc 1:  

1. Love Is Easy 
2. Shine A Light 
3. Party Girl 
4. Falling In Love
5. Do Ya 
6. Lies                                                               
7. One For The Radio                                        
8. The Heart Never Lies                                    
9. Transylvania                                                  
10. Friday Night                                                 
11. Star Girl
12. Don't Stop Me Now
13. I'll Be OK
14. All About You
15. Room On The 3rd Floor
16. Obviously
17. Five Colours In Her Hair
18. Do Watcha
19. Cherry Cola
20. That Girl (Original 2003 Demo)
21. Obviously (Original 2003 Demo)
22. Memory Lane

Disc 2:

1. Umbrella (Studio Version)
2. Lola
3. The Guy Who Turned Her Down
4. Get Over You
5. You've Got A Friend
6. No Worries
7. Silence Is A Scary Sound
8. Sunny Side of the Street (Home Demo)
9. Memory Lane (Original 2003 Demo)
10. Surfer Babe (Original 2003 Demo)
11. Ignorance
12. Down Down
13. Mess Around You (Unreleased Demo)
14. Rockin' Robin
15. POV
16. She Loves You
17. Mr. Brightside
18. Little Joanna
19. Bubble Wrap
20. Five Colours In Her Hair (US Version)

McFly is:
Tom Fletcher- lead vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele, songwriter
Danny Jones- lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, producer, songwriter
Dougie Poynter- bass guitar, backup vocals, occasional lead vocals, songwriter
Harry Judd- drums, percussion

McFly, L-R in both pictures: Dougie, Tom, Harry, Danny

About McFly: I could say way too much about these guys, but I'll try not to. They were formed in 2003, and have had the same lineup for a decade. They've released a lot of CDs, but generally I just say 5 because those 5 are the regular studio albums. The others are soundtracks, live, and compilations. Each of their CDs has a distinct sound. Room On The 3rd Floor, their debut album, actually broke a Beatles record in 2004. McFly became the youngest band whose debut CD debuted at #1 on the UK charts. A little obscure and seemingly unimportant, but it's a small victory for Galaxy Defenders (I'll explain this term in a bit). This album definitely has a Beach Boys vibe. 2005's Wonderland is definitely a lot more orchestral, and actually includes an orchestral piece composed by Tom. 2006's Motion In The Ocean & 2008's Radio:ACTIVE are the most similar of their albums, and are my personal favorites (Radio:ACTIVE is my personal favorite album ever). These two definitely showcase the band's rock side. Above The Noise, their 2010 release, is more of an electropop album, and the weakest, in my opinion.

My Opinion about McFly: They're my absolute favorite band. Not many Americans know about them, but I love them. I actually first saw them when they were in Just My Luck. Yeah, that Lindsay Lohan movie from back in 2005. My boys were the band in that. And Harry almost hooked up with Lindsay in real life. And their song Please, Please is about her. But that's a whole different story... moving right along! I forgot about them and then in 2007 (my Jo Bro obsession time) I was watching an interview with the JoBros where Nick said his favorite song was Transylvania by McFly. I watched the video and thought it was weird, and again, I forgot about them. (Transylvania is now among my all-time favorite McFly songs!). It wasn't until I discovered that the Jonas Brothers got their song, Year 3000, from the band Busted that I actually started listening to McFly. The Busted guys are close friends with McFly, which is how I really discovered McFly. And when I realized that they were the band in Just My Luck, everything really clicked. Anyway, long story long, it was a weird winding road to discovering them, but I really love them, and I love all of the members. Tom is my favorite, though. Yes, Tom of the wedding speech fame. I've told everyone for years that Tom is perfect, and now people understand. McFly is also the exception to the dumb blonde rule. Tom, the only natural blonde, is the brain, and Danny, the only one who's been brunette for 99% of the time he's been in the band, is the lovably dim-witted front-man. (OK, he's not really dumb, but it IS a running joke that he's the slow one... Because he thought an egg was a vegetable. Poor boy)

About the CD:  Memory Lane is the 2nd Greatest Hits album they've released, and includes a lot of demos/ unreleased songs, along with a few new ones. The opening track, Love Is Easy, is their most recent single. I believe it's also their only single that was not from a studio album.

IMHO: I love the nostalgia of some of my favorite tracks, but some of the best were left off. And I'm not so sure about some of the new ones. My favorite new one that they've been performing, Red, isn't on here. So it had better be on their next studio album or I will have a heart attack.

Favorite songs: Lies is my all-time favorite McFly song. Transylvania is in the top 5, as is Five Colours In Her Hair (NOT the US version).  

Other gems: Love Is Easy, Falling In Love, Star Girl, Obviously... OK, just 1-17 on the first disc... minus 2&3. All 17 are from studio albums... 2&3 are Above The Noise tracks that I'm not as fond of. Sunny Side of the Street. I'm not sure why POV, Little Joanna, and Bubble Wrap are randomly near the end of this CD, but those are also from McFly studio albums and those are really good as well.

Video!

 Music video for Love Is Easy

Acoustic Love Is Easy, Dougie version!

Red live. Sorry, not the best quality. There's a much better one on youtube, but I couldn't get it to link on here.

About the Galaxy Defender thing I mentioned earlier: it comes from a line in Star Girl. "Galaxy Defenders stay forever". It has basically become the saying of the fans of McFly. McFly's fans are Galaxy Defenders, and we stay forever!

Rating: 9/10. I love all of McFly's songs. The only reason it's only 9 is because I'm frustrated that they released another greatest hits when all their fans really want is a new CD. And because the 2nd disc is a bit of a repeat of their earlier Greatest Hits.



Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Sorry if I said a bit too much, but I just really love McFly!!! What did you think? Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? What do you think of McFly? 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!





*UPDATE POST*

Sorry, y'all, but there isn't going to be a new post today, for a couple reasons.

First of all, the next CD up is one that's near and dear to my heart, so I have a lot to say about it and am going to take a little bit more time to talk about it.

Secondly, I wanted to take a second to acknowledge the fact that I'm really not going to be able to post EVERY day, even though I have been so far. Desire-wise and time-wise, I could definitely post daily. I really enjoy doing this and I'm out of school for the summer just working about 30 hours a week. The problem is actually just content. I have quite a few CDs, but I simply don't have enough to keep that pace up for an extended period of time. It's been quite a while since I've counted the number of CDs that I have, but I know that I have more than 150, but definitely less than 365. So, you see how I simply can't keep going at the rate that I have been, as much as I may want to.

Along those lines, I know that I will at some point run out of CDs. My idea is that once this happens, I'll just update every time I purchase a new CD. I feel like this makes the most sense.

My fourth point is actually an idea that I have. Since running out of CDs is an inevitability, I have some ideas for a semi-continuation of this, along the same lines, but with movies and books. I haven't decided if I should start this before running out of CDs or when this one begins winding down. I also haven't decided if it should be an add-on to this or a totally separate blog. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

So, in the comments, let me know:
-what do you think of my idea for the movies or books blog?
-would you want it at the same time as the CD blog (alternating days)? Or after?
-would you rather the movies/books be on this blog with the blog name edited or on a separate blog?


And finally, what do you think of THIS blog? Seriously, I can see that people are reading it (whatever small number it is), so PLEASE just let me know what you think of it. Do you like the music that I've written about? Have I introduced you to new music that you ended up liking? I'd really like to know that I'm not just writing this for myself! Thanks y'all! See you at noon on Saturday for sure!