This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.
Lobster Records – 17 April 2001
Great jumping off point
Today is the twentieth anniversary of One For The Kids by Yellowcard. It holds up, but it’s more interesting as a “where did they come from” album. If they hadn’t gone on to make Ocean Avenue I’m not sure we’d be talking about One For The Kids, which doesn’t make it a bad album, but it does force us to talk about it in terms of what Yellowcard would do later on.
One For The Kids has some good tracks but the album is a lot of the band finding their footing. Ryan Key had just joined the band and it definitely feels like he’s trying to figure out what everyone else is all about, and vice versa. I have to wonder what One For The Kids would sound like if they had recorded it after an extra six months of rehearsal. There are just one too many solo acoustic songs throughout the record that come off as maybe the rest of the band just couldn’t figure out exactly what to do. This is a non-existent issue on Ocean Avenue, where a lot of the songs that could be solo tracks are really well arranged for the entire band.
Something I’ve always loved about Yellowcard is that they treat their violinist like a violinist. What I mean is that I see a lot of bands who who will get a violin and all it does is double guitar parts with a bunch of distortion and then it just sounds like another guitar. Sean Mackin has a clear presence in the band that isn’t just playing second fiddle (please laugh) to the guitars. Mackin doesn’t overplay either. I would actually argue that there could be a lot more of him on One For The Kids. He has a much more active presence on Ocean Avenue and Lights And Sounds, so I suspect he might agree with me. Of course a lot of Yellowcard’s sound comes from Ryan Key’s songwriting, but Mackin’s influence on the band really gives them a sound that distinguishes Yellowcard from a lot of other emo / pop-punk bands of the era.
Yellowcard is a band that really benefits from a good producer. The bigger budget has stifled other bands, but Yellowcard really needs a strong hand in the studio. One For The Kids lacks the energy that later records thrive on, and a lot of that comes from how thinly this album is recorded. “Star Struck,” “Sureshot,” and “Rock Star Land” should be huge recordings, but fall just a little flat without the extra recording quality that Ocean Avenue benefits from. They’re great songs (as are most of the songs on the record) but they suffer from both the confident arrangements that Yellowcard would get really good at, as well as the production shine that made this band so huge.
All in all, One For The Kids is fine. It’s not a bad record but not one I’ve felt compelled to revisit too often. This band would become really great, but they just weren’t there yet. That being said, go celebrate its twentieth anniversary by listening to One For The Kids, Ocean Avenue, and Lights And Sounds all in a row. It’s a lot of fun. That’s what I did today.
Musician and writer – I play in Cheap City and run Dollhouse Lightning
