I read an interview with Soupy Campbell about a year ago, in which he commented that he plans for The Wonder Years albums to be progressive--to tell a story not only within each album, but within The Wonder Years' entire anthology.
Did this album live up to that? Lyrically, musically? Perhaps, I suppose, it depends what they were reaching for. In my mind, The Upsides was an album about being a kid. It was about starting to figure out who you are, but still reaching back for your youth and not being completely done growing up. This is portrayed not only in the lyrics, but in the overall feel of the album, the catchy choruses, and the upbeat, not-quite-punk-but-definitely-not-pop sound of the guitars, percussion, and vocals. Then, we had Suburbia, which quite frankly blew everyone else's album out of the pop-punk water and set the standard for the new generation of punk music. It didn't try too hard to reel you in with overtly catchy choruses--it didn't need to. It proved at every turn that yes, growing up was a rough time and we're still trying, but we decided we're coming out swinging, and we're going to pound relentlessly through until we make it. And pound relentlessly, the album does. And it does it in the best, sweetest, play-on-repeat-all-day, possible way.
And now The Wonder Years have given the world The Greatest Generation. Other critic sites have touted it as lyrically advanced, and indeed a fantastic progression for this band. Okay--opinions are what let us enjoy bands like this when not everyone in the world understands it. But this album left me a bit confused. Did they succeed? Did those kids we heard struggle in The Upsides and start to grow up in Suburbia move forward with their lives? I thought that with an album title like this one, the album would have screamed YES--those kids made it through, and I can too.
But this album is sadder than the last two. And not sadder in an angsty-teen way, but rather because they did grow up, but they aren't better. They apologize: "I'm sorry I don't laugh at the right times...I'm awkward and nervous." They're waiting for something bad to happen. They just want to "be enough for everyone." They ask, "If I'm in an airport, and you're in a hospital bed, what kind of man does that make me?"
The thing that I have always and will always appreciate about The Wonder Years is the honesty in their lyrics, somehow making the simplest, most honest words sound smart and relatable. Honest lyrics abound in this album, but I don't feel like they hit the right spot as much as they normally do. This is a good album, but not what I was expecting from their progression and the album title. Maybe that's the point--we expect all the problems in life to go away as we age, but we really just end up with different problems.
High Points: The overall darker feel of the album, the 4-5 outstanding songs, the progression of Soupy's voice and the musicality of the band. Additionally, the fact that they stayed true to themselves, and made the album they wanted to make.
Low Points: Though not often, some of the lyrics feel like they're trying too hard to provoke a sad reaction rather than just letting us feel it naturally. Also, the soft/slower songs don't necessarily fit in as well as expected.
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