I have a love/hate relationship with the Get Up Kids. Or maybe it’s more of a like/dislike relationship – of their previous full lengths, I really like the first and am lukewarm on the second. Of the three times I’ve seen them live, one show was great, another was okay and the last one was puny.
In any event, I was pleasantly surprised by their latest effort On a Wire. It’s not like anything else they’ve done – it sounds more sincere, sad and brooding than their previous efforts. The new songs sound like the Replacements, old Get Up Kids stuff and Wilco all tied up. And these songs are catchy – like it or not, these songs will stay in your head.
The Get Up Kids have written better, more complex lyrics for the songs from On a Wire too. It sounds dorky to say that the Get Up Kids have “grown up,” but the band’s artistic growth on this album can’t be ignored.
I don’t know what the emo kids will think about On a Wire. Hopefully they’ll like it. I know that this album evokes more emotion from me than anything else the Get Up Kids have ever released. Go to www.vagrant.com for more information about the Get Up Kids and to hear songs from On a Wire.

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