THE GET UP KIDS
Guilt Show
(Vagrant)
 

Talk about feeling guilty…even before I listened to this latest album from the Get Up Kids, I’d already dismissed it as either overblown emo or over-rated old-school punk. WRONG!

The moment, track #2 “The One You Want” opens with its inventive blend of guitar crunch and soft keyboards, you’ll realize you’re no longer in Kansas, as The Kids deliver what can only be described accurately as primo power pop! Yes, boys and girls, you read that absolutely right – power pop!

And it only gets better…

The longing “Never Be Alone,” – to these ears – sounds uncannily like Squeeze for the modern rock era, with singer Matthew Pryor a dead-ringer for Glenn Tillbrook! I kid you not! The Squeeze evocation continues with the marvelous “Wouldn’t Believe It,” as its jauntiness and playful mellifluous makes a significant impact. The strident “Holy Roman” is perhaps the album’s finest achievement as Pryor waxes political but almost in frustration – “will you save us?”

The rest of Guilt Show keeps the momentum going as the catchy “Martyr Me,” the punchy “How Long Is Too Long,” the synth-pop new wavy “Sick In Her Skin,” the jolly (the very antithesis of emo-punk) “In Your Sea,” the hyperactive “Sympathy,” the powerful “The Dark Night of the Soul” declare the Kids’ arrival as premier pop artists of considerable power and significance. By demonstrating the ability to transcend the genre in which they made their reputations, the Kids have secured themselves a place in pop legend, with Guilt Show being easily their proverbial “Sgt. Pepper” – this might very well be the album of the year. Believe it! A+ www.thegetupkids.com