The Bird And The Bee Sides

As a big fan of Relient K, and a singer/songwriter myself, one must wonder where all the hooks went. The new songs featured in the Nashville Tennis EP are OK, but many of them just don't take hold right away, if at all. In contrast, the b-sides often rock more and have twice the hooks. From the cover art as well as the lush tracks on their latest full-length, I was pretty sure the sound was going to be even more mellow, and more artsy. And it is, without the melodies. The opening track starts out with a banjo, then moves immediately into a note-for-note re-write of "The Best Thing" off their last album. And, out of the 26 songs, about half of them are real clunkers, semi-ballads that go nowhere (reminiscent of New Found Glory's "Coming Home" album). Like NFG, Relient K seems to have lost a bit of the passion along the line somewhere. The raw emotion of Hmmmmmm... has dropped off a bit on the last two releases. And that would be forgiveable if the songs were as great as they were on that album, but they're not, so I suggest this album for hardcore fans only.

Okay, let's break Relient K's new album down. It's a slightly tricky set-up.

The whole twenty-six track package is called The Bird & The Bee Sides. But then, it's broken down into two halves.

Tracks one through thirteen are called The Nashville Tennis EP. Relient K follows up each album with a similarly-themed EP, and Nashville Tennis is the follow-up to last year's critical darling Five Score and Seven Years Ago. I've never heard of a EP a full thirteen tracks long, but I'm not complaining.

Tracks fourteen through twenty-six are labelled as The Bird & The Bee Sides. This also happens to be the title of the full album, which makes precise discussion of the collection sort of impractical and confusing. But this is an insubstantial nitpick. On to the music itself.

How much you like this album will almost certainly match how much you liked last year's Four Score and Seven Years Ago. And I don't just mean "Must Have Done Something Right," I mean the entirety of last year's album. The first thirteen tracks of this album, and large portions of the second thirteen tracks of this album, sound very much like the inner, album tracks of Five Score and Seven Years Ago.

That last paragraph is just about all you need to know about whether or not you should make this purchase, but if you want to know a bit more, here goes...

Five Score and Seven Years Ago was highlighted by a bit of pitch-perfect pop ("...Done Something Right"), a sprawling epic of life, death, and redemption ("Deathbed"), and--the best track on the album--a brilliant case study of sublime songwriting ("Faking My Own Suicide"). None of the twenty-six tracks on The Bird & The Bee Sides are as good as those three, but there are some brilliant flashes.

The first thirteen tracks (recall that this portion is titled The Nashville Tennis EP) are almost entirely spiritual reflections. Fortunately, Relient K is really good at writing this sort of wise, insightful number.

I miss Relient K's early career, the days of "Getting Into You" and "For the Moments I Feel Faint," when Relient K would write a straight ballad with the emotional pop chops to compete with the likes of Green Day's "Good Riddance" and Oasis's "Wonderwall." By contrast, the songs here are almost all midtempo. It's the production and arrangement of each song that defines how hard it hits and how much edge it has. "Beaming" is light and breezy, "The Last and the Lost" is heavy and guitar-driven. In between are every sort of spin on this style.

Thanks to the good production and solid songwriting, though, Relient K can at times sound like Hoobastank and at others sound like The Shins without making music that feels clumsy or disjointed. It's impressive. Relient K is, even on a sort of side album like this, among the best bands in the music industry today.

Following those thirteen tracks are The Bird and the Bee Sides, an impressive thirteen-track collection of demos, B-sides, acoustic reworkings, and songs from the RK vault. Though the tracks were written over Relient K's ten-ish year career, they were almost all given a production job like you'd hear on their most recent album. What this means is that most of the songs are textured and intricate, even if they weren't really meant to be.

Is it a bad sign that my favorite track on the entire twenty-six collection is a half-decade-old album track? "Jefferson Aeroplane" was buried to the very end of RK's 2004 Two Lefts Don't Make a Right. I always liked it, but I love it now in its reworked form, with more melodic vocals and guitars, and a more interesting percussion track.

The Bird & the Bee Sides is certainly very good, and at twenty-six tracks you'll have plenty of material to explore. Nothing is particularly disappointing. But then, only small flashes are truly inspiring.

Can you tell I'm a little underwhelmed? I fell in love with Relient K a few years ago because they were both flashy and thoughtful. They looked closely and carefully at everyday life. Two Lefts Don't Make a Right remains their best album, a touching and insightful look at little things like mood rings and high school grduges and cell phones. Everything they touch now has an epic sweep to it, for better and worse. Instead of little life lessons, we get contemplations on the underpinnings of things like relationships, love, existence. Instead of in-your-face pop-punk that wasn't afraid to show it's brains and heart at the right moments, we get delicate, textured music with as much of a mainstreem rock feel as it has a punk feel.

Worth your twelve-plus-shipping? Probably. Best RK album? Nah.

Ever since their Grammy nominated Two Lefts, I've listened to everything Relient K. 26 songs for only what 11 dollars? Believe me when I tell you it is in your best interest to buy this cd!

Ever since I listened to "Mmhmm" back in 2004, my musical eyes have been opened to a whole new light, and things never were the same for me again. I sought out everything Relient K has done, and bought just about every album of theirs ever released. And what I couldn't buy, I borrowed and searched. Now, Relient K comes out with not only their most ambitious EP yet, but also their most ambitious project yet. Does it disappoint? Please, this is Relient K, they NEVER disappoint.

The Nashville Tennis EP:

"Where Do I Go From Here" starts the CD off with banjo's, before quickly shifting into punk blazing guitars. "The Scene and Heard" is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it seems like a MySpace song, which is not a good thing, but on the other hand, it really showcases Matty T's sharp lyrics that never slow or let up. In the end, the song thinks it's better than it really is, and ends up one of the overall weaker tracks on the CD. "At Least We Made It This Far" continues the much-appreciated of great segways in-between songs, which really makes the album flow together in a cohesive fashion. The song itself is amazingly written, and seems like a cover of a Bob Dylan song or something. The melody only helps the song.

Don't turn skip the next song, it IS Relient K, and it is not Ace Troubleshooter reborn, nope, welcome to a new experiment. Relient K so chock full of talent aside from Matt Thiessen, they're basically The Beatles, with Paul, Ringo and the rest waiting in the wings itching to show they're equally amazing. And guess what they are. John Warne does an amazing job here, and makes me actually want Ace Troubleshooter to come back from the musical grave.

"The Lining is Silver" is an unknowing plug to Rilo Kiley, and is classic Relient K. It's fun, catchy, rockin' and happy, and sure to please all fans. "There Was No Thief" is an regrouping of "The Thief" from "The Apathetic EP." The original was underwhelming, and the weakest track from that release. Here, it's redone, redesigned, rearranged just plain made better. It ends up as one of the stronger tracks of this release, and wins the award for most improved song of the year.

"No Reaction" is Ethan Luck's introduction to Relient K, which is a cornucopia of punk and ska, a tribute to his roots while looking forward to his future. Matthew Hoopes also gets in on the act, with his long-awaited solo singing debut in a song that he duets with Matt T. who the song must be about, since they've been with each other since the beginning. A great effort by Hoopes and hopefully we'll here a lot more from him in the future.

"There Was Another Time In My Life" is very unfortunately long-titled and repetitive, but great music saves it from a shallow fate. "Beaming" is a short tribute to the band's earlier pop culture reference days, and guess what, they're still as clever as ever, if not more so. "I Just Want You To Know" fits perfectly with the Spring/Summer sound of the album with its sunny melody, and cheerful lyrics.

Lastly on this portion, Jon Schneck (love that name :) brings "The Nashville Tennis EP" out with a stunning bang that is the most epic and jam-packed you can get in a minute and thirty seconds. It's a mix of country and bluegrass, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, and that's not all folks. There's also a Tennessee-sized oblige packed with hilarity laughter. It's great to see the guys haven't lost their humor after all these years... And then there's the Bees. There's buzzing, bee voices, and did I mention Bees? Sadly, Jerry Seinfeld is absent from this track. :(

The Bird and the Bee Sides:

A Relient K Fan's dream CD. All these rare songs you haven't been able to attain, listen to, or shell out the money for. In my quest for everything Relient K, I've heard most of these songs before. Except of course everything from The Vinyl Countdown, which nobody could hear unless they had a vinyl player. The great thing about all these songs is that they're remastered, which almost makes them sound like they were recorded yesterday. And boy you can tell the difference.

From "The Creepy EP," you have the amazing "Jefferson Airplane," which is different from the original in the fact that the chorus is distinctly changed. This version itself is completely amazing and certainly one of the best Relient K has ever done. However, if you want the rest of the amazing tracks from this EP, you'll still have to keep looking. But more on that later.

On the other hand from "Employee of the Month EP," you have all its songs. "Wit's All Been Done Before" benefits very well from the remastering, offering a great number with great lyrics and awesome punk/rock sound. "For The Band" is another fun number which showcases the earlier sound of the band, and somebody named Chris who has developed a severe disliking for everything related to Relient K. Haters... Gotta hate them. "A Penny Loafer..." is a light little ditty which makes no sense lyrically, but turns out to somehow be a tribute of the Beach Boys.

"The Vinyl Countdown" is probably the most exiting of this release, because it has never really been heard before. "The Vinyl Countdown" is fun ode to the changing formats of music storage, with a special fondness for the vinyl disc. "Nothing Without You" is little bit more hardcore than an early fan would expect. It's a strange mix, but it somehow seems to work, although it is a little repetitive. "Five Iron Frenzy..." is a strange and short tribute to a band which disbanded a few years ago, which I've actually never heard of. But I guess Relient K liked them, so that's good enough for me.

As for the other tracks, I got the acoustic version of "Up and Up" when I pre-ordered "Five Score..." from Wal-Mart. It's a great take on the song, and it adds a little bit more depth to an already amazing song. "Hope For Every Fallen Man," is an acoustic version of "Fallen Man" which was on "Must Have Done Something Right EP." The acoustic version was most commonly found on a pre-order of "Five Score..." from Best Buy. I personally think the acoustic version gets a lot closer to the heart of the song and its lyrics. And if you really look at the lyrics close enough, you'll find something really powerful in there.

Along with all those tracks, you get two unreleased tracks. "Here I Go" fits perfectly with Relient K's modern sound. "The Stenographer" is a musical hodgepodge, with pianos and electronic 80's vocals. It's pretty funky, and reminds me of something you might hear in Indie Music.

My most major complaint about this album is strangely the lack of songs. Sure, it has 26 songs, but they could have easily had 10 more! From the songs they left off from "The Creepy EP," including the moving rendition of "Softer To Me," their cover of "Sloop John B," the promised demo version of "Sadie Hawkins Dance," and their "live" version of "Breakdown." They could have easily done a double-disc album, but instead they put 26 songs on one disc. Not complaining, just saying.

Overall, Relient K, like Tiger Woods, is never satisfied with a good thing, and they strive to always improve. So far, and with this release, they never cease to amaze on the fact that they never stop getting better. And even though this CD does have its faults and cracks, they're not big enough to damage California, but they might break your mother's back. This release will be cornerstone for Relient K's future, and I can't wait to see what comes next for the band, because there's no telling just what they'll do.

By the way, my most prized possession in my Relient K collection is the vinyl release of "Mmhmm." Incredibly rare, and so incredibly awesome.

Their variation in style yet unbelievable quality continue in this special compilation of un-releases and remixes. LOVE IT!