Album Review: A Day To Remember - 'Old Record'

2 February 2009 | 11:11 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

An unnecessary trip down memory lane.

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A Day To Remember REALLY made their presence felt – both in their native USA and around the world – with the release of 2007’s For Those Who Have Heart, and with the heavily anticipated Homesick hitting shelves this week the ADTR freight train doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. So why re-release your first official record around the same time, especially when the band’s earliest showings pale in comparison to the refined mix of pop punk and hardcore that the Ocala based five-piece is peddling these days? I can only assume the fine folk over at Victory saw the chance to make a few bucks (and really, given the downturn in CD sales, can you blame them?), so setting aside the financial motivation for circulating the disc, Old Record is best reserved for die-hard fans who are looking to round out their collection, as the tracks on offer do not hold a candle to anything the band has written in the last couple of years.  


Those that are familiar with the group’s most recent output will recognize tracks like “Heart Less” and “U Should Have Killed Me When You Had The Chance”, and although the production isn’t what we’ve come to expect from the Floridian genre-hoppers all the key ingredients that have made ADTR a household name are present.  


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At present, the band’s sound sees their mixture of breakdowns and pop hooks flow seamlessly from one to the other, however the material on display here shows a far more choppy and less fluid group of musicians at work, which is to be expected when you consider how young some of the members were at the time this album was originally written. That’s not to say that Old Record doesn’t have some winning moments, as “If Looks Could Kill” and “Your Way With Words Is Through Silence” are still catchy and well written, tracks which no doubt aided in building A Day To Remember’s sizeable fan base. 

Not a total waste of time, but if you’ve only got $25 to spend the next time you’re in a record store check out Homesick instead.  

  1. Intro ‘05
  2. Heart Less
  3. A 2nd Glance
  4. Nineteen Fifty Eight
  5. If Looks Could Kill…
  6. U Had Me @ Hello
  7. Casablanca Sucked Anyways.
  8. U Should Have Killed Me When U Had The Chance
  9. Your Way With Words Is Through Silence!
  10. Sound The Alarm V.2.0