Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be (CD)

All Music Guide

Where You Want to Be builds on the hardcorepowermeetspopskills of Taking Back Sunday's debut Tell All Your Friends and reveals the group to be, in many ways, a quintessential latterday emo band. Not because they're redefining the style's sound, but because their music is defined by so many of emo's nearlycliche tendencies. A gerundled band name? Check. Cryptically bittersweet titles like "Little Devotional"? Present and accounted for. Shouty, anthemic vocals, stringdriven 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 cringeworthy 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 nearlyuniversal 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 likeminded Victory Records artists, including Hawthorne Heights, Bayside, Action Action and Silverstein.] - Heather Phares, All Music Guide Read more Less