Driven Far Off

Frankly, Good Charlotte’s fourth and most recent album, “Good Morning Revival” disappointed me, not just as a critic, but a fan. Like many other listener’s of the Waldorf, MD based band, I began listening to Good Charlotte in 2002, when their second and perhaps most popular CD, “The Young and the Hopeless” was released. Their second album appealed to many because of the broad range of relatable topics it covered, its good vocals and great harmonies, and mainstream heavily guitar-incorporated sound. Their first album, although less notable on the popularity front and perhaps less well-formed, started that appealing trend, that continued until their third album, “The Chronicles of Life and Death” was released in 2004. There were many likeable songs on this album, most notably including three popular singles off of the album: “I Just Wanna Live”, “Predictable”, and “We Believe”. Although it seemed that on their third album, there were many mediocre songs that could have been cut out of the album to adjust the focus to some better quality tracks, I found “The Chronicles of Life and Death” mostly likeable.

Good Charlotte’s “Good Morning Revival” just does not seem to be up to par in comparison to their previous albums. Perhaps GC was trying too hard to top their other albums—something that, admittedly, would be difficult to do. Or perhaps the band was trying to follow a trend that seems to have come about with many alternative bands, and change their style, something that is perfectly understandable. I just did not feel that their new, generally more techno-like, modern sound and more raw vocals was carried out in the best way possible. Many of their songs had a tune that I just couldn’t seem to find likeable, although there were, as there are in most albums, a few exceptions. “The River”, “Something Else”, and “Broken Hearts Parade” had tunes, vocals, instrumentals, and overall sound that I could certainly appreciate.

The themes that Good Charlotte focused on in this album within their lyrics also changed from topics ranging from suicide to love life to difficult family life to something entirely different. Something that this album certainly seemed to focus on was the fakeness of people and the upper-class society, although GC continued to have songs remarking upon, like most bands, love and heartache. The lyrics were, although perhaps predictable, of good taste and message, and not at all something people wouldn’t appreciate.

It stills remains, however, that overall I felt this album wasn’t of the high quality that I, among other fans, have come to expect from Good Charlotte. It wouldn’t be on my list of album recommendations; however, that is not to say that others may feel differently about this album and the band’s progression, or, perhaps, lack of progression.