Paramore
by Paramore

The Best Album of Paramore ;3

From Vatsal 06/06/2018 03:42 | #216202

There are no fillers on this album.

*Louder for all the people in the last row*

THERE ARE NO FILLERS ON THIS ALBUM!

From hereforashortime 02/11/2018 20:38 | #207725

The biggest problem with this album is it's just too long. If they cut out the filler, there would be a really fantastic album here.

Their best so far

Their best album after brand new eyes. the track "Future" is so fucking amazing!!

From paladisiac 01/02/2014 23:20 | #99574

I bet gwen stefani and the rest of no doubt wish their album rocked as well as paramore does on this album. After gwen's last solo album, she was lucky to reunite no doubt. Their reunion helped spark some fun pop/rock numbers, but that album was widely scattershot with its results. This self-titled paramore release is more consistent in bringing rocking, driving hooks. Although the lyrics seem a bit directed toward the 18-25 crowd ("ain't it fun living in the real world" for example) and sometimes a bit convoluted (as in "part ii"), it doesn't come off too sophmoristic or muddled in approach, which is good because they really know how to write the catchy hook. Yes, sometimes they can come on too saccharine-sweet'n'upbeat musically, but the lyrics really are not ("someday you're going to be the only one you got" as an example from standout "anklebiters"), though they might sound that way.

From Norman Bates 12/31/2013 11:27 | #99345

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From ButterThumbz 12/20/2013 18:26 | #98221

A real mixed bag. There's nothing really bad here but whenever things start getting interesting I can't help feeling like I'd much rather be listening to Charlotte Hatherley.

Okay, so.. Paramore... I never payed too much attention to this band, I knew that song with the Twilight vid + I guess I heard a couple of their most famous songs at one point or another, without really caring about them. Didn't seem like my thing at all. Still, after seeing that this album was highly regarded by a couple of users, I felt like I should give them a proper chance. And so I did. At first I just watched some of their vids on youtube (not just from this album), which gave me an idea of what the band was actually like and gave me some expectations of what I'll get from the album. A lot of them did turn out to be justified, but unexpectedly the album managed to positively surprise me throughout its length and ended up being something I never thought a Paramore album could be.

I expected that the album would be filled with those poppy overly-anthemic choruses - see songs like Still Into You, Proof, Last Hope or Now for biggest offenders. But I did not expect that even these songs would manage to have enough going for them for me to still like them.

I expected that the album, being more than an hour and 17 tracks long, would have its share of stinkers, but I did not expect that the number would be so low - I mean I could easily do without Daydreaming or Be Alone, but they hardly put a damper on the overall experience of the album.
What I most certainly didn't expect is that even at this length the album doesn't drag at any point. Even more so - the album manages to be a varied but cohesive effort, more than justifying its length.

Did I say varied? Well here's another thing I certainly didn't expect. I expected a more or less fun, but often generic and uninteresting pop punk album - having heard Riot! and Brand New Eyes afterwards, I'll say that those two albums were a lot more like that (I still liked BNE though). But this album takes their sound while drawing influences from all over the place. It's not just about slowing it down at some points and going more "aggressive" at others, there are songs here with influences from country (Hate to See You Break Your Heart), some gospel (Ain't it Fun) and even post-rock (Future). What's more - they do it really well!

In general the production and the quality of instrumentation was another thing I didn't expect at all. Future in particular excells here, that transition after the third minute is just fantastic simultaneously going louder and more muffled before evolving into something any acclaimed post-rock band would be proud to have done. But there's little gems all the way through - from the fantastic drumming on Part II to the synth pop influenced ending to Grow Up, to that little guitar riff towards the end of Ain't It Fun, some Yeah Yeah Yeahs inspired guitar on a few tracks. There's a lot of that even on those tracks that I mentioned earlier which I think get a bit ruined by their choruses.. Fuck me, but those songs seem like such a wasted opportunity to me. Now features some of Hayley's best vocals on the album, from doing her best Karen O impression at one point, before showing off her big voice later on, not to mention the great guitar work throughout. Great guitar on Proof as well..

Lyrically I guess the album is what you'd expect, but even here the album manages to be cohesive and with a clear overall message - even after two core members left, Paramore is still here, moving on, leaving them behind, looking towards the future etc. In case you don't get it there's three interludes reiterating the point. Strangely enough I even loved them (or the idea of them). Certainly fit on the album.

Oh well.. I guess another thing that I most certainly didn't expect is that I would still be regularly listening to this album over a week later. I think it's already easily in my top 5 of most listened to albums of 2013. But you know what, I have hopes for more. If those positives on the album are the result of the former rhythm guitarist Taylor York stepping up to songwriting duties, then I'll certainly keep an eye on what they do from now on.

Track picks: Future, Grow Up, Anklebiters, Ain't it Fun, Fast in My Car.

I'm not a big Paramore fan, but this album impressed me. The album is heavily front-loaded and a bit too long, but an overall solid achievement that exceeded my expectations.