The Starting Line Album: “Based on a True Story”

From seeing The Starting Line at Skate and Surf Festival about 5 years ago to watching them perform on their headlining "Screaming is for Babies Tour," I have seen this amazingly talented and young group of individuals rise to be one of the most genuine rock bands of the decade. "Based on a True Story," their latest effort, has proved yet again that The Starting Line has what it takes to make the body move. And that is all you will do once you pop in this masterpiece of a compact disc. As a true TSL fan, I must be honest and admit that there is not one song on this cd that is not great. This band puts their heart, soul, and balls into making good music and BOATS proves just that. IF you don't believe me, just listen to "surprise, surprise" or "artistic license," a song that showcases Kenny's untouchable vocal range. No matter what, the bottom line is that The Starting Line have made a great album that everyone can love. Even with a huge corporate record label breathing down their neck, they have still managed to put out an album that expresses who they are and what they are all about. So with that said, there is nothing left to say except: If you don't already own this cd, add it to your shopping cart. Listening to it alone will make sitting in traffic seem unusally pleasant.

This CD is the best CD ever!! I cannot explain to you in enough words how great this CD is. The songs on this album really touched me in a way that whenever a song plays, it somehow relates to my life in someway. "Bedroom Talk" is the greatest insight to all the things that go on in a teenager's mind when thinking about sex. The emotions and the feelings toward this topic are so on point that you feel like Kenny is singing for you. Number 7 and 11 on this CD are very good as well. In fact, I'm using track 11 on our senior powerpoint presentation since it's a song about being one and together accomplishing something. Go out and buy this album!!

The latest from The Starting Line, "Based on a True Story" is a difficult album to rate. From the outset, it has a completly different sound and feel from past albums such as "With Hopes of Starting Over" "Say It Like You Mean It" and even "Make Yourself At Home".

Gone are every single track being about love, whether it be losing it, gaining it, or simply being mad about it. A note that people need to remember is when the band formed some years ago, all the members were still teenagers. Since then, they have matured, which is what this album set out to prove. This CD is about the world you live in and the people that you surrond yourself with... friends and enemies, lovers and fakers.

Don't think that there aren't tracks that don't sound like The Starting Line of old though. #5 "Surprise, Surprise" is a similar ode to ex's cheating ways in relationships and will immedailty remind fans of "Up and Go". Also #12 "Ready" is an anthem of getting over a broken heart, something that previous Starting Line albums have been full of.

The rest of the album has a new sound for the band and it is up to the fan to decide if they feel it is a good one. Personally, I found it refreshing and enjoyable. Tracks of mine that I greatly enjoy are #2 "Making Love to the Camera", #5 "Surprise, Surprise", #6 "Photography", and #11 "The World" (thats not to say I don't like the rest of the CD, those are just my favorites). I would encourage any fan of previous releases of The Starting Line to pick this record up if for no other reason then to give the band a chance to prove that they can grow up and still keep you rocking your head and singing along just like before.

It's obvious that this CD is not Say It Like You Mean It, and that the band's sound has changed. I for one love the new stuff, and think that it shows quite a development for the band musically. You can tell they've experienced a lot since they wrote their first record, even their first EP.

For those of you who really liked the old CD, listen to it a couple of times and try to get into some of the songs. Ken's lyrics are satirical half of the time and you have pay attention to catch them. This is a band that is trying to do things their own way, and they're not writing songs for anyone but themselves now.

It really is a good album, i didn't like it all that much when i first listened to it, and now i can't stop listening to it. If it's not your kind of music, that's cool, but recognize that this band hasn't gotten worse, they've just started writing the music that they want to write.

It took a while for their new album to drop but in my opinion, it was definitely worth the wait. The sound is much more grown up and the lyrics are very thought provoking. It's a wonderful follow up to "Say It Like You Mean It" and the production was great. The only negative thing about this album is it's length, which is just under an hour. Overall, I would recommend "Based On A True Story" to old and new fans alike.