The Bird and the Bee Sides
Matt Thiessen – Vocals, Guitar, Piano
Matt Hoopes – Guitar
Dave Douglas - Drums
Jon Schneck – Guitar, Banjo, Bells
John Warne - Bass
After releasing their last album Four Score and Seven Year Ago, Relient
K decides to release a “B” sides album featuring a whopping 26 tracks that includes an entire EP, demos, and acoustic
versions. This review isn’t going to be like all of our others in the sense of going song by song, track by track, because
of the amount of tracks there is on the album. For many fans this album will give them a new way to look at their favorite
tracks. Some may be the demos of the tracks that they know and come to love others are getting the unplugged treatment. It
will also give them new songs to fall in love with. The album begins with The Nashville
Tennis EP set of tracks. It features tracks that have a country and/or Ska feel to them. Each track is unique in its own
regards and this let the band get some new juices flowing. They tinker with their sounds and have fun with it. The 13 new
tracks should be loved just the same as the catchiness that fans have learned to love flashes through the entire set. The
second set of 13 tracks offer up demos, acoustic versions, a Ska version, and a few others that are hard to find on very rare
albums. The set of tracks include “For the Band,” and “Nothing Without You.” For a fan this is a great
album to have as it does show both of those ideas (new sounds with new songs and new sounds with old songs). If you are a
person looking to find a new band to fall in love with this is not for you as it will give you the wrong impression of their
music. The Nashville Tennis has a good mix of country and Ska type tracks. There
are many that are upbeat like most of their tracks before as well as some soft yet edgy tracks. Bee Sides just offer old classics with a new sound.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
My favorite tracks:
The Scene
and Herd, No Reaction, Wit’s All Been Done Before, Here I Go
Track List:
1.
Way Too Long To List (26 songs!!!)
Website (s): www.relientk.com