Customer Rating:  
Summary: Switchfoot Isn't Wine
Comment: When this album came out back in 2004, I thought is was the greatest thing ever. Now? Not so much, in fact, all the songs I thought were good, not so much. The songs I didn't like, I love.
But I do have to give credit to their guitar guy, some songs like "Meant To Live" would have been terrible without that opening solo. In fact, "This Is Your Life" isn't that great either. It might have good lyrics, but the musical quality is not so great. The opening part to that is just strange, future of music channeling is what I call it.
"More Than Fine," "Gone," "Adding To The Noise," are a bunch of great little ditties, and really should make up more of Switchfoot playlist, instead of the harder stuff. Lyrically and musically "Gone" is a real winner, however, it should also have been the last song about materialism. I mean really, can the guy write about anything else? That's one of the reasons their last two albums haven't been good, it's all about materialism. They should have just stopped here.
"24," and "On Fire" are great ballads, and amazingly the band excels here, making these the highlights of the album, especially "24." Why can't the band make more of songs like these? These songs are gems, and shunned gems at that.
The rest of the album isn't that great, filler material, including the title track. Overall, I like about half the album. The rest is throwaway. Sorry, Switchfoot, you could have done better. What's sad is this is their best album. Having said that, the album does have it's high moments, and depending on what you think of them, I would definitely recommend it.
When this album came out back in 2004, I thought is was the greatest thing ever. Now? Not so much, in fact, all the songs I thought were good, not so much. The songs I didn't like, I love.
But I do have to give credit to their guitar guy, some songs like "Meant To Live" would have been terrible without that opening solo. In fact, "This Is Your Life" isn't that great either. It might have good lyrics, but the musical quality is not so great. The opening part to that is just strange, future of music channeling is what I call it.
"More Than Fine," "Gone," "Adding To The Noise," are a bunch of great little ditties, and really should make up more of Switchfoot playlist, instead of the harder stuff. Lyrically and musically "Gone" is a real winner, however, it should also have been the last song about materialism. I mean really, can the guy write about anything else? That's one of the reasons their last two albums haven't been good, it's all about materialism. They should have just stopped here.
"24," and "On Fire" are great ballads, and amazingly the band excels here, making these the highlights of the album, especially "24." Why can't the band make more of songs like these? These songs are gems, and shunned gems at that.
The rest of the album isn't that great, filler material, including the title track. Overall, I like about half the album. The rest is throwaway. Sorry, Switchfoot, you could have done better. What's sad is this is their best album. Having said that, the album does have it's high moments, and depending on what you think of them, I would definitely recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Dare U 2 Move
Comment: I really like the song I Dare You To Move. It's a "hang on to your hats, God's not finished with me yet" speaker buster! One of the greatest songs ever--secular or Christian.
Customer Rating:
Summary: They continue to blow this young, black mind almost on the daily. 4.09 stars.
Comment: When I think of Switchfoot, certain things, flood my thoughts;
Strained vocals, thoughtful, heartfelt lyrics and some pop-rock for the masses! \m/
This album is a surprise, and THEN some:
Some ballads, some rockers, mostly melodic and very tuneful and super-planned out lyrics, which is one of the best parts!!
I bought this in 2003: But don't ask me why. I was just looking for something different, and I thank the freakin' Stars above, for leading me to this CD, which was $7+ at the time. Since it was my lunch break at work, I decided to grab my trusty, rusty-red CD player, and give this bad boy a spin. I was nearly speechless listening to such grit and rawness. Never had I heard a slightly sexy man, pour out so much Heart and Pain in my Life. A true turn on, but most importantly, to the heart, soul and the ever-flowing mind.
Thumbs up, Switchfoot!!
Cover Art: B
Songwriting: A- (Something with depth, and non-mindless for a change!)
Vocals: C-(super-strained, pulling a Ashlee-Simpson-lite, but that mattered little, because this Bloke had/has Heart! =^D )
Length: A-
Overall: B
4.09 stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great breakthrough album
Comment: The singles from this album were my first exposure to Switchfoot ("This is your life", "Dare you to Move", "Gone", "Meant to live"). I discovered their more recent material ('Nothing is Sound' & 'Oh, Gravity') while having a subscription with Rhapsody for my MP3 player. My first Switchfoot purchase was the 3-album set from 1997-2000 which includes 'Legend of Chin', 'New Way To Be Human', & 'Learning to Breathe'. That said, this 'Beautiful Letdown' album is their best in my opinion. From top to bottom, the songs are very well done and I always enjoy hearing any song from this album (barring the title track, but I'm warming up to that one lately). I've heard "Dare you to Move" a little too often. (It's also on 'Learning to Breathe', so between listen to it on that album and all the radio play it's gotten...)
Nonetheless, when I rank how I like ALL the songs of Switchfoot, every song on this album gets at least 4 out of five stars(barring the title track which I currently give 3 stars).
In short, I love this album. It's much more polished that the first three albums and the songs seems to flow together better than the next two albums. I like the style and diversity of the songs on this album better that the next two albums also, but that opinion could change over time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Switchfoot - Beautiful Letdown
Comment: Switchfoot's messsage on the passing of time coupled with strong musical talent makes for a compelling collection of songs.
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