The Get Up Kids - Something to Write Home About

Artist: The Get Up Kids
Album: Something To Write Home About
Year: 1999
Rating: 89/100

 After having burst onto the scene explosively with the superb debut full-length effort "Four Minute Mile", Kansas City's Get Up Kids then cemented their place among the record collections of punk rock kids around the world with their sophomore effort, "Something to Write Home About". The band added keyboardist James DeWees (erstwhile skin pounder for friends and local metalcore heavyweights Coalesce and the main man behind Reggie and the Full Effect) to their line up, and a fuller, broader sound came about as a result.

Unlike their contemporaries in Sunny Day Real Estate, Texas is the Reason and the Promise Ring, the Get Up Kids' sound is more firmly rooted in punk than in alternative rock, as the raucous, emotionally charged opening track "Holiday" attests. Lead vocalist Matt Pryor is more than ably backed up by guitarist Jim Suptic, who takes lead vocals on "Ten Minutes". Elsewhere on the album, the balance between the slower and uptempo numbers is one that's easily kept, with the slower numbers mercifully avoiding the trap of being overly slushy or trite. On the uptempo side, "Holiday", "Red Letter Day", "Ten Minutes" and "I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel" are the stand outs, and the slower triumphs include the slow building "My Apology", and the lush "I'll Catch You".

"Something to Write Home About" was the record that put the Get Up Kids on the world's musical map, and with good reason. Unlike a lot of more modern records labelled under the "Emo" moniker, the sincerity and emotion behind this record is very genuine, and that alone is enough to recommend it highly.

Track list

1. Holiday
2. Action & Action
3. Valentine
4. Red Letter Day
5. Out of Reach
6. Ten Minutes
7. The Company Dime
8. My Apology
9. I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel
10. Long Goodnight
11. Close to Home
12. I'll Catch You