Album: The Summer Set - 'Legendary'

Ronaldista

Quote:

The Summer Set is excited to announce that our new album Legendary will release April 16th (US) / April 15 (UK) via Fearless Records!

tracklist:
1. Maybe Tonight
2. Jukebox (Life Goes On)
3. Boomerang
4. Lightening In A Bottle
5. Heart On The Floor (Featuring Dia Frampton)
6. **** U Over
7. Happy For You
8. The Way We Were
9. 7 Days
10. Someday
11. Rescue
12. Legendary

first new track: Maybe Tonight

***

ambitious album title, I hope they can live up to it

potent

omg, first listen and Maybe Tonight is AMAZING.

nice change of pace from F**k U Over. Anyways I love their style, I could listen to Brian's voice for a whole day so I'll definitely be checking for this. Interested to see what they do with Dia.

Ronaldista

they released another song, Boomerang. it's on iTunes and also has a lyric video:

Idk, the lyrics are a little cheesy

potent

Yeah Maybe Tonight is way better, but Boomerang is more radio-friendly and I just want them to finally have a hit

(Also bump so this doesn't expire

)

Razzle

Quote:

Originally posted by potentbreakupsong

omg, first listen and Maybe Tonight is AMAZING.

nice change of pace from F**k U Over. Anyways I love their style, I could listen to Brian's voice for a whole day so I'll definitely be checking for this. Interested to see what they do with Dia.

potent

^ Nice, I didn't know they had collaborated before. I really love the folkish sound.

Razzle

New song:

Ronaldista

I'm surprised this hasn't leaked yet. Apparently they're gonna stream a new song every day until the release!

Razzle

1st review is in!

The Summer Set has proven time and time again that they are a good pop/rock band, but they aren’t aiming for good. They’re aiming to be, wait for it - legendary. And their latest release is proof that they are going to achieve it.

Setting out to create an album that would combine the best aspects of their previous releases with the so-called “x factor,” the quintet has created a piece of pop/rock gold. With 12 tracks - 13 if you count the bonus track - Legendary defines who this band is and who they want to be. From the upbeat songs about living life to the fullest (‘Maybe Tonight’) to odes about finding one’s “yellow umbrella, hoping to take her home” (‘Legendary’) and even back to their tongue-in-cheek lyrical roots (‘Jukebox (Life Goes On)’) their third studio album is by far the strongest release from these Arizona natives. Not only strong in that it showcases how they’ve matured in the album writing process, but as musicians as a whole. Both the vocals and instrumentation soar with a confidence that they didn’t in past releases, and it comes through in their live performance of the album’s singles.

One track, ‘Heart On The Floor’ featuring Dia Frampton -- who is the only guest on the album -- is arguably one the stand out tracks. While still boasting their trademark blithe lyrics, The Summer Set managed to create a story about love that finds its beginnings in a bar and ends with frontman Brian Dales promising to not “jet the morning after.” With a sound different to what is expected from the group, as it originally started with a “gospel time vocal sound,” the track still clings to the vestiges of the original imagining and is the moment in the album that fans will realize that The Summer Set is more than just a good band. They’ve become great. No, they’re becoming exactly what they are shooting to become. Legendary.

So, in the words of Barney Stinson himself, we request “the highest of fives."

5/5

ATP

Clips of the album can be heard here:

https://soundcloud.com/musicleaks101/01-legendary-album-preview

Rockstarr

Quote:

Originally posted by Razzle

New song:

LOVE!

Edit: They premiered Heart On The Floor today on AP:

http://www.altpress.com/features/ent...paign=altpress

Also premiered Someday on Buzznet today:

http://wevegotyoucovered.buzznet.com...emiere-219859/

Ronaldista

Alternative Press review is out: 3.5/5

Quote:

The last time we heard from the Summer Set, the Arizona quintet had effectively tendered their resignation from the Warped Tour universe, trading pogo-ready pop for a sound more fit for soccer moms. That’s not to say 2011’s Everything’s Fine was a bad album; in fact, it was quite the opposite—this writer even gave it four stars in AP 277. Everything’s Fine was mature, poised, and seemingly packed with hits that could have launched the band well beyond the reaches of the scene that bore them. But the album didn’t take with the mainstream crowd, the band moved onto Fearless Records and, somewhere in the interim, the Summer Set realized they weren’t quite ready to turn in their Lost Boys (and Girl) membership cards.

So in some ways, Legendary is a return to form for the Summer Set. Boasting both the swagger and sonic style of their debut, 2009’s Love Like This, the album is bursting with energy and booming beats. It’s hard to call this tie-loosening complete regression; after all, the one thing Everything’s Fine did lack with a more upbeat track or two. If anything, Legendary sounds like the proper follow-up to Love Like This, and, if you look past the Dawson’s Creek and How I Met Your Mother references, the album blends the maturity of Everything’s Fine with the freewheeling, sardonic spirit of their debut. And when the band employ the formula well, we’re left with expertly crafted pop songs that still carry some emotion (“Jukebox (Life Goes On),” “The Way We Were” and “Lightning In A Bottle,” all of which are among the group’s best songs to date and find Brian Dales doing what he does best: penning nostalgic, romantic vignettes).

Overall though, there’s a dearth of diversity. Nearly every song features the same towering beats (seriously, where have the live drums gone?) and things tend to blur together by the end of the album. Simply stripping away the electronic elements and breaking out an acoustic guitar here and there would make all the difference and give the record a little more personality. Look no further than the album-closing title track, which yearns for a more organic arrangement than the glossy treatment it ultimately received.

There’s little doubt in anyone’s mind at this point that Top 40 radio and mainstream stardom is the Summer Set’s end goal, and that’s perfectly fine. In the days of major label-manufactured acts, you could do a whole lot worse than a band who truly earned it themselves, slugging it out on van tour after van tour and playing amphitheater parking lots for what probably seemed like endless summers. Rooting against their success would be deplorable, but when the group take aim at the brass ring with a single like “Boomerang” (which name-checks Jay-Z and Beyoncé) and the vapid “**** U Over,” it feels a little too cheap—especially when a song like “Maybe Tonight” could seemingly take them over the edge on its own merit. Throughout their career, the Summer Set have shown their innate knack to craft a catchy hook without resorting to grabbing the low-hanging fruit in front of them. But if that’s how they want to play things this time around though, more power to them.

The bold part makes me kinda sad, as I was hoping that wouldn't happen on this album. That seems to be their biggest weakness, how the electronic elements tend to overshadow everything else and the songs come out rather samey.

Ronaldista

The whole album is up for stream now!
LISTEN HERE

potent

Quote:

Originally posted by borntodie

The whole album is up for stream now!
LISTEN HERE

12 tracks, four of which I've heard already should be pretty manageable. I'll try to listen this weekend.

Quote:

Originally posted by Rockstarr

LOVE!

Edit: They premiered Heart On The Floor today on AP:

http://www.altpress.com/features/ent...paign=altpress

Also premiered Someday on Buzznet today:

http://wevegotyoucovered.buzznet.com...emiere-219859/

Ooh I see The Cab in your signature. Hi.

Razzle

I love it

potent

Yeah I thought it was a really solid album. I actually rated all of the songs

Maybe Tonight 8.5/10
Jukebox (Life Goes On) 10/10
Boomerang 7/10
Lightning in a Bottle 10/10
Heart on the Floor feat. Dia Frampton 6/10
F**k U Over 7.5/10
Happy for You 7.5/10
The Way We Were 7.5/10
7 Days 7/10
Someday 9/10
Rescue 8.5/10
Legendary 6.5/10

Average: 7.92

- Lightning in a Bottle and Jukebox are my two favorites, the choruses are EVERYTHING.
- Someday and Maybe Tonight are really good too, they have that huge anthemic sound.
- Rescue is definitely the most unique song in the album, the beginning almost reminds me of Africa (Toto).
- Boomerang (lead single) is actually one of the worst songs in the album.
- The Dia Frampton song disappointed me, you can barely even hear her and I didn't like the screamy runs in the last chorus.
- The other one I didn't like as much was Legendary. It's just kinda boring and drawn-out.
- Everything else is somewhere in the middle.

musicfan09

Tuesday is full of great releases!

excited!