The Promise Ring Album: “Very Emergency”

The Promise Ring are really elusive. Months of listening to "Nothing Feels Good" left me a thousand miles away from where I was the first time I heard it, and it's that kind of effect that plants me firmly in the ground as a huge fan of theirs. I like what alot of people have said in their reviews because I totally agree and still wonder, how can music be both happy and sad at the same time? I don't know, but TPR do things that I don't think *anyone* can do half as well.

Okay, so what about "Very Emergency"? Hmmm, kinda seems like straight-up pop music to me. But wait, who cares? Really what it comes down to is the sound, and the sound here is highly listenable. "Catchy" is kind of like the tip of the iceberg, humming these toons for hours after hearing them is unavoidable. In my optinion, though, these tracks get a bit too easy to like...there's no challenge here, the word "raw" doesn't come into play ~ night and day compared to these guys' earlier efforts. Without any kind of challenge, music tends to get boring pretty quickly, which is probably why I haven't listened to this disc much lately.

3/5 compared to their earlier stuff, but I'm still a fan and am forever keeping my fingers crossed that these guys will play in my neighborhood someday soon...

I had never been a big fan of The Promise Ring. Their previous efforts never impressed me. They weren't terrible, but found them very dull. Heck, I can't even remember what inspired me to buy this CD, since I didn't like thier other stuff. I think I read reviews praising the album and just picked it up as an impulse buy. Anyhow, when I listened to it I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Catchy, poppy songs that stick in your head....right up my alley...and they were from Milwaukee. It was nice to see a band from Brew Town besides the Femmes and the BoDeans get some national recognition.

This CD is excellent from Happiness is All The Rage to the final fading verses of All of My Everything. I have read that the Promise Ring hates being painted with the dreaded "Emo" paintbrush and this album helps distance them from the drab and tired Emo scene from which they emerged.

As my review title reveals...I have had this CD for almost 3 years and I still pull it out about once a month or more. It is a very hard CD to get sick of.

pop? yes. emo? no. good thing? absolutely. but this is just dull. Sure, davey can sing better, but there's nothing to lead me to believe that they finished writing the songs...it just rolls from one catchy but not-so-interesting part to the other. True, at least its not hoover-esque emo sludge, but if you want to call it pop, it ain't the Jam, either.

Okay, THE PROMISE RING has become one of my favorite band as of this writing (Sept.2002), largely due to their amazing poppy-rocky album, Very Emergency. I'm sure you have read how hooky and catchy the album is...well it's true. It's not only that but all so very much melodious! Hummable and rockable at the same time. I want to jump around bopping to the tunes. Very ear-friendly and touching, almost naive yet reassuring. It's been 3 years since the release, I still listen to it. I feel very happy when I listen to the album...

The Promise Ring are all I've been hearing about lately in the underground music scene, probably because they are frontrunners in that emo stuff now. They are very happy, and I enjoy that fact more than anything else. They are great guys, put on great shows, and make great CDs. This is not in my CD player a lot because there is not a lot of punk in it, but it is good to hear sometimes with its power pop chords and choruses. Davey has a fairly good vocal, and, like most emo vocals, is pretty moving. There is far more pop associated with this music, but it doesn't really matter, the music is good. I like "Happiness Is All The Rage" and "Emergency! Emergency!" the best. Also check out Weezer.