The Last Word: Good Charlotte Is Having A Bad Morning

Brian Raftery | March 27, 2007 11:25 am
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(Ed. note: What used to be Idolator’s Record-Review Revue is now The Last Word, a semi-regular feature in which we round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the week’s biggest new-music reviews. Today’s entry is Good Charlotte’s just-released Good Morning Revival):

– “This band can still crank out a grand chorus, and there’s one in ‘The River,’ about decadent Los Angeles. But to find the album’s most memorable moment, you’ll have to explore ‘Where Would We Be?,’ a sub-Coldplay ballad that contains this admission: ‘I must confess that I’m a sinking ship,/and I’m anchored by the weight of my heart, ’cause it’s filled with these feelings.’ One promising target market for this CD: countries where they don’t speak English.” [New York Times] – “Jumpier rhythms help, and GC still know how to write a hook. But ‘The River’ is a cruddy, L.A.-dissing aggro anthem, and ‘Misery,’ with its litany of heartaches, is one of several cuts that could use some Prozac. Sounds like growing up sucks even more than they originally thought it would.” [Rolling Stone] – “But just when you’re thinking Revival is straight outta Wimpsville, along comes a gnarly gem called ‘Break Her Heart,’ with a killer guitar filigree and a sour lyric about how the best way to keep a female wrapped around your finger is to…oh, you guessed it, huh? Sure, it’s a trite sentiment, but it’s executed to brutally good musical effect. And it’s the one track on this CD where Madden seems to believe what he’s singing about. To paraphrase the Reverend Jesse Jackson: Keep punk alive!” [Entertainment Weekly]