Recover Rodeo and Picasso (2001) Fueled By Ramen

Fueled By Ramen has my respect for producing some of the best pure pop records of the past few years. Between The Impossibles and The Stereo, Fueled By Ramen seems to have solidified their reputation for providing solid punk-fueled pop records. Of course, it would be a disservice to ignore their other contributions, like some fine Jersey records, and of course, the debut of this band, Recover.

Like most people, I read the bio sheet attached to the CD, which described the band as a bunch of guys who met to cover Green Day tracks. Recover doesn't sound like Green Day, but they definitely share a lot of the pop sensibilities of that seminal band.

Recover is best described in the context of their peers; a band combining a lot of sounds, hardcore screams, moody emo breakdowns, and solid power-pop harmonies and chord progressions. It's an interesting mix, and while a lot of bands are combining the screamo-pop sounds nowadays - the terrific Thursday comes to mind - Recover has enough pop sensibilities for it to avoid getting lumped into this increasingly crowded emo-fueled post-hardcore genre.

While this is an impressive record, it's not a surprise that they have room to grow. One of the most difficult things for a band full of rage like this, is to sound honest, and at points, it seems like they're not quite as pissed as they want to sound. The screaming and yelling seems to be more for rhythmic impact than actual emotion. It's not that it's out of place, so much as it feels a little tacked on. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not asking them to drop them, but a little dynamic moderation would probably make it sound more, well, honest.

I like this record, and I like where they're going, but they aren't the melodic hardcore answer to FBR's pop arsenal just yet.

(Aubin)