- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Alternative PressTheir most complete-sounding disc to date. [Mar 2004, p.91]
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To these ears, the Get Up Kids have finally arrived.
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Entertainment WeeklyDark but guitar-driven, it proves [On A Wire's] soft sentiment might have worked better with a little more hard rock. [5 Mar 2004, p.68]
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SpinUltimately, Guilt Show feels about as transitional as its predecessor; Pryor has stripped the cuteness from his songwriting but hasn't figured out how to make his dispatches from adulthood resonate the way his teenland stuff used to. [Apr 2004, p.91]
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Tellingly, the consistently likable Guilt Show falters only when The Get Up Kids overextend their grasp and depart from their nearly infallible pop formula, as on the experimental claptrap of the albums last two tracks.
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Paired with the Kids fidelity to verse/chorus pop, Pryors boyishly confident, hopeful delivery can sound pro forma, even mindless.
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The Get Up Kids relies on classic pop arrangements (piano accents, acoustic bridges, moody electronic/orchestral interludes, and climactic choruses) to bring a touch of class to what might otherwise be standard half-hook emo, faintly catchy but fundamentally unmemorable.
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Pryor delivers wounded-boy bromides that are so shopworn, they sound indifferent.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 11
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Mixed: 0 out of 11
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Negative: 1 out of 11
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laarAug 29, 2006
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dFeb 6, 2006
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pmoneyNov 4, 2004insane christian rock, it makes my girlfriend wet just listening to it