Life looks better in PINK!!!!

I've used up my monthly free photies allowance!!!!!!
NOOOOOOO!!!
I wanted to stick up some for Halloween and Frankie's birthday!!!!!
Hope nobody minds if they're a day late!!!
Grr!

So here it is folks, my song by song review of The Black Parade!

Opener The End begins with the beep of a life support machine. Lots of reviews have made reference to Pink Floyd's The Wall, but it's not an album I'm familiar with though I do know other Pink Floyd stuff and I can hear the similarity in the orchestration and the sheer scope of the music.... it's a huge intro to the rest of the album, it sets you up from the start for something immense.

It flows neatly into Dead which has one of the catchiest choruses ever:
    Have you heard the news that you're dead?
    No one ever had much nice to say
    Think they never liked you anyway
and the huge la-la-las at the end - you can see the stadium singalong, arms in the air, the whole works!

This Is How I Disappear revisits the darker musical style of the first 2 albums, but in a much bigger way than the band was ever capable of. It's fucking heavy as hell too!
Gerard's voice has a robotic quality to it on this song (and elsewhere on the album) which adds a sense of unreality and alienation, and emphasises the loneliness and mix of emotions that are such a theme of this whole album. It's a dark and angry song, sad and affecting - with a mega-thumping heavy bass and drum thundering underneath.
One of my favs! I love the way the different melodies are layered on top of each other. This album is deep - physically and metaphorically.

The Sharpest Lives - This song seems to be dealing with a character with a drink and drug addiction... familiar? It's dark and scary in tone and the rhythm section again is really heavy and tight - you have to move to this song!
Bob was right when he said Matt's drumming was unimaginative - Bob really shines through on this record, and his strength makes Mikey's bass seem much more powerful and confident than previously.
Not to take anything away from Frank and Ray cos the guitars on this album are superb and huge too!

Ok, so we all know Welcome to The Black Parade by now.
I love the military drumming and then the way it turns into a huge anthem!
Can't help feeling it's a metaphor for the band though:
   Do or die / You'll never make me
   Because the world / Will never take my heart
   Go and try / You'll never break me
   We want it all
   We want to play this part
   I won't explain / Or say I'm sorry
   I'm unashamed / I'm gonna show my scar
   Give a cheer / For all the broken
   Listen here / Because it's who we are
   I'm just a man / I'm not a hero
   Just a boy who had to sing this song
Like Gerard is telling us he knows we look up to him, and he wants to help us, but he's just a man, he's just a singer in a band. He supports us, he'll fight alongside us but he's just a man....

I Don't Love You - The beginning reminds me of a Britpop anthem but I can't put my finger on it. I know this album is based around a concept and a set of characters but Gerard has also said it's one of the most personal records the band has done. Keeping both these ideas in mind this song, in particular, seems to exist on many different levels and is really affecting as a result. Cancer is the big tearjerker but, for me, this is the saddest song here. It's so desperate. Gerard's vocals are heart wrenching, displaying anger and despair in equal quantities. Love it!

House of Wolves - love this song! It ROCKS!!!!
From the tribal drumming at the beginning through the huge bluesy guitars and Gee's wicked evangelical preacher.... Hellfire and Damnation, and we love it!
   Tell me I'm a bad man
God, YES!
And those drums! I defy you not to shake your booty like it's going out of fashion!
Ray and Frank are dueling guitar licks on this one - and it ROCKS!
I love Ray's take on this song ; 'It always reminded me of the Looney Tunes cartoon where a guy would get hit on the head and he'd descend to hell and there would be all of these wolves playing saxophone' Classic! (Kerrang! 1126. Sept. 2006)

Cancer - big time sobs!
Just the piano and Gerard's voice - the passion, the pain, the heart and gut wrenching emotion - are we taking bets on this becoming a funeral fav? Or was that in poor taste? C'mon people, I'm only saying what you're thinking...
The ending is odd - somewhere between The Beatles and ELO! Hmm....
Not my fav.

Mama: Polka + weirdness = one amazing song!
It's massive and fucked up! Gee is full of bile, Liza Minnelli is as strange as you'd expect - you can picture the Caberet set so well! Kudos on that one guys! and then it gets into this totally bizarre drunken, brothers-in-arms singalong - can't you just picture the BierSteins raised in time to the song as they all sway back and forth together...
Can this be the next single? Please??????

Sleep was partly inspired by the night terrors Gerard experienced at the Paramour recording studio. Under the track is the recording of someone (is it Gee?) talking about their sleep problems, like in a therapy session - nightmares, fear of death - I can't wake up - and it all brings to mind the psychological state of soldiers returning from the horror of war and not being able to forget what they've seen - not being able to sleep for fear of the dreams. At the end where Gerard is crying out 'Just sleep' it becomes like a prayer, a cry for help, full of frustration and longing and despair.
It's a huge song, disturbing and emotional.

Teenagers - They're treading a fine line with a lot of this album but it's a line from this song that could be the one that causes the most controversy:
   What you got under your shirt
   Will make them pay for the things that they did
To the band's credit they're aware of this but didn't shirk the issue.
The chorus had me laughing out loud! It's great! Like some barroom blues band crossed with a T-Rex style 70s glam stomper anthem.
I'd love this to be single too! In fact, I honestly can't choose the best/ my favourite songs from this album, they're all so good - not a single dud!

Disenchented is a sad song, with something to say, to paraphrase the lyrics.
The style actually reminds me of the big-hair bands of the 80s and their more socio-political ballads - I guess I mean Bon Jovi here, must be a New Jersey thing!
I can almost see the cigarette lighters in the air.
It's a moving song all the same. And they've got a point, why do we listen to any songs or bands if we don't take any notice of any thing they say!? Do we hear anything? From anyone?

I love the guitars in Famous Last Words, especially at the beginning. It's an immense song to finish the album. The chorus is so positive and uplifting:
   I am not afraid to keep on living
So, for an album about death we end on a highly positive note, defiant, resiliant. Then there's the refrain:
   Awake and unafraid
   Asleep or dead
This is really ambiguous. Is the patient back? Where has this redemption come from? Or is it simply acceptance? I really can't make up my mind on this one yet. The story that is, the song is great!

And of course it's only the official closer of the album cos there's the secret song, Blood. I didn't actually realise this was on here the first couple of times I played the cd, like duh!
It's a cool song, like some old-time vaudeville performer. It's hilarious! And, I don't know about the rest of you, but for me it put the whole album on a different edge.... you have to rethink some of your assumptions about the characters after hearing it.... Tongue in cheek? Or added commentary:
   If life ain't just a joke then why are we laughing?

There's a darkness that runs through this album but it's contained in a way that is more mature and defiant in attitude and style than any band's 3rd album should have a right to be! It's a truely amazing album and my only worry now is - how the hell will MCR ever top this????

One more thought - the band have hinted at performing the album in its entirety, using the stage show to tell the full story. They won't be doing it any time soon but by the time they get to the stadiums maybe, who knows? But some of these songs just scream out for that kind of huge theatrical spectacular setting - choirs, dancers, explosions, the works!
That would be a show I'd happily kill to see!

Hope everyone out there enjoys this album as much as I have and will continue to do so.... And I'd love to hear what you think of it , and my review!!
Jane

Tomorrow! Tomorrow I get The Black Parade!
There was an advert for it on TV like 5 mins ago and I went running into the living room to see it! - much to the amusement of the rest of the family!
Tomorrow!
OH MY GODS! TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!

My Chemical Romance are no.1 in UK chart!!!!!!!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
*dancing round doing a little dance, grinning, punching air*

Here are the links to 2 articles from the Guardian and the Observer that don't diss emo and goth, and don't make any stupid claims about the music or its followers!

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1883051,0.html

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1890056,00.html

The first one is about old skool goth and how it's influenced the new stuff, the second is about emo and comments on the Daily Mail witch hunt.
Hope you like them!

So, I've posted loads more photies in the last few days .... hope you like them!
Lots of Ville and Aiden, also Amy Lee and other women who ROCK! 'Cos a girl's gotta have some idols she doesn't want to get into the pants of - just steal their wardrobes and envy their hair!
Again, I apologise if these pics have been posted before but I hope you don't mind.  ;-)