[Rare Review] What Gives, The Academy Is…?

Posted by pixie | Filed under Uncategorized

[Prelude to a review: I may have mentioned this before, but back at the site-that-shall-not-be-mentioned, Tom Z. and I often discussed how useless album reviews are. For the most part, they go on and on about meaningless details, pretentious language, and you often can’t even tell if the reviewer likes it or not. Music reviews have almost become a competition to show off how much the reviewer knows about a band/scene/producer. That said, I am going to put this out there, much in line with what Tom Z. and I said made a good review.]

I have never liked The Academy Is…. I tried to, but they just didn’t work for me. The lyrics didn’t click, the melodies didn’t work, and nothing about their music resonated with me. One of my sisters always told me how great they were, and every time I gave them a try, I ended up disappointed because I just didn’t like them. For example, I gave Santi about 20 tries, and it just always ended up being “God, I have to get this off my iPod so it stops coming up on random.” I’d written The Academy Is… off as a band I should probably like, but never would. [There’s a short list of those, the other two I can think of off the top of my head being Against Me! and Angels and Airwaves.]

Fortunately for me, I have self-diagnosed musical OCD. This unique condition compels me to listen to or get just about every new album that comes out [in the genres I like, anyway.] I’ve been known to put little Post-It notes on pages of Alternative Press, marking bands I’ve never heard of, but seem interesting. I spend hours on end combing MySpace, looking for the next band I will like a lot. Naturally, this led me to check out The Academy Is…’s album, Fast Times At Barrington High. The verdict?

Holy. Crap.

What happened to these guys? At the moment, on the eve of September, this album has a firm top 5 best albums of 2008 spot. It’s great! Poppy and comforting on some level, with nicely put together lyrics that are entirely memorable and quotable. Everything I disliked about this band seems to have ceased to exist — it’s as if they were replaced by a totally different band that I have completely fallen in love with. I guess with these guys, the third time is a charm.

The odd thing is, I went back and listened to the first two albums. Nope, they still don’t work for me. But this album? There’s something amazing about it. I think it’s sad it was all but slipped into stores under the cover of night, especially considering the press that Santi got. This album is two thousand times better and deserves recognition, which is why I wrote this review.

If you already like The Academy Is…, I have no idea if you will like this album. But if you have never liked them before? Give it a try. It just might work for you. Stranger things have happened….