Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue Acoustic may just be one of my favorite reissues I've ever heard. These songs sound so beautiful and the stripped down, less punky more patient treatment reveals the meaning that all us fans heard back in the day when this record was a soundtrack to summer nights with friends, fall afternoons alone, hallway head phone listens and so much after.
Truly love how they kept structures the same, as the songs were not rewritten. But the violin solos ring a little more mournful over acoustic - the setting on "Empty Apartment" is gorgeous - and the meaningful moments are spotlit with all this new space, like the "Believe" intro and the entirety of the title track. It's also mixed and produced extremely well in terms of clarity. These songs could be played in front of me right now and the guitar would sound just as clear, drums just as crisp. And I can hear harmonies I don't recall, though that may be more my own distance from the original.
It's not easy to revisit songs (as I noted recently about the goddess herself Tori Amos) and I love that Yellowcard, a band that was a pivotal listening point for many music fans today, was able to do so without sacrificing their integrity or musicianship.
"There's a piece of you that's here with me
It's everywhere I go, it's everything I see
When I sleep, I dream and it gets me by
I can make believe that you're here tonight
That you're here tonight
If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away"
~Ocean Avenue
Yellowcard, Ocean Avenue Acoustic
