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BEST FAREWELL ALBUM 2005 Award Winner!

Runners-Up: NONE.

 

Five Iron Frenzy wanted to go out with a bang and give their fans the best possible final release that they could… and they did.

They recorded a new full-length studio album that features their best-sounding (and most consistently heavy-rocking) music ever (Disc One), and packaged that with a complete recording of their final live show (Disc Two) to create the perfect farewell gift.

Disc One: The End Is Near

The End Is Near begins with “Cannonball”, an excellent, vocally-exuberant and musically-rocking song. Five Iron’s sound quality and musicianship has improved so much that, the instant you hear it, you know this is going to be a great record.

“At Least I’m Not Like All Those Other Old Guys” is a perfect example of Reese Roper’s usual self-mocking humor. Its lyrics are hilarious and the music is solid, making for another excellent track.

“So Far, So Bad” again has hilarious lyrics, describing what this song was going to be about but it’s no use making it because you’d never hear it anyway, etc.

“New Year’s Eve” lyrically states that it’s just another day— many ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ are superficial or halfhearted, and won’t work because real change must come from the inside out and be a true commitment (not just some feel-good ‘resolution’).

“American Kryptonite” is simply amazing. Its lyrics rebuke people who merely take and consume and never give or sacrifice; musically and vocally, it’s excellent— building right to the end, where (for the first time) we hear Reese genuinely screaming the final bridge, getting more and more intense, the music matching perfectly. This is definitely one of FIF’s all-time best tracks.

“It Was Beautiful” is a medium-paced, happy and reflective track about their years as a band.

“Wizard Needs Food, Badly” is a very cute song about a relationship. Its lyrics are quite humorous (he wants to watch sports and play video games, while she wants him to help out around the house, etc.).

“Farewell To Arms” tries to get through to someone who is very hateful and who isn’t thinking rationally or clearly. Again, this has great music.

“See The Flames Begin To Crawl” is actually a song about the band breaking up! And, again, it features excellent music.

“Anchors Away” describes how what once was truly news is now being sold like commercials and is plainly no longer objective. [Note: Amazingly, this song is even more relevant today than when this album came out in 2004!]

“Something Like Laughter” is a medium-paced (though fast-drummed) rock track that is filled with hope.

“That’s How The Story Ends” is a humorous attempt to reference, ‘explain’, and/or provide a conclusion to a slew of their previous songs. It’s pretty hilarious, especially if you know those songs’ lyrics.

Finally, “On Distant Shores” is another amazing rock track (in fact it could arguably be considered Five Iron’s best track of all time). Throughout the song, Reese continuously builds his voice ever higher and more powerfully until it reaches an incredible crescendo. Then, to finish it off, they add in the last few lines of “Every New Day”, which was the song they had always played to end their live shows. It’s a beautiful touch, and a perfect close to the song, the CD, and their recording career.

Bonus Track: “The Cross Of St. Andrew” at first rebukes hypocrites, then explains what truly matters. Attached is a hidden track featuring some interesting segments from some of their final-tour live shows.

Disc Two: The End Is Here

(We recommend listening to this disc entirely through headphones— you’ll feel like you’re there.)

A complete live recording of Five Iron Frenzy’s last show, The End Is Here is not only a great recording of the live music and the humorous banter in between songs, but also a fairly heart-wrenching tribute and finale to the band’s existence. By the end of the show, the emotions of the crowd and the bandmembers (and their farewell words) are amazingly powerful.

Needless to say, this disc is a must-hear for anyone who even marginally liked F.I.F.— be prepared to experience their farewell in a very personal way.

 

In all, Five Iron Frenzy capped their career with the best studio album they ever produced, and that— combined with the recording of their last live show— makes this a truly excellent final release.

Our rating for The End Is Near Here: 5 & 1/2 Stars.

 

Yes, this album is rated 2 Stars. Don’t be surprised— it wasn’t meant to be good! It’s basically a bunch of B-sides, demos, goof-offs, and practical jokes. (Out of 34 tracks, there are only 4 actual, serious songs on here— “Kamikaze”, “Marty”, “Mind For Treason”, and “Left”— and of these, only “Kamikaze” should really have been released on one of Five Iron’s actual studio albums.) With that said, let’s get on to the review. (Since this album is so… different, we reviewed all of this album’s 34 tracks; however, this makes the review quite bulky. So, for ease of reading the other FIF reviews, we hid it inside the below link. If you’d like, you can click it to make this review appear.)

As you can see, this CD is definitely for the die-hards only! If you are anything less than a die-hard FIF fan, you should not get this album (or at least wait until you’ve heard some of their actual studio albums that are good).

Our rating for Cheeses… Of Nazareth: 2 Stars.

 

Immediately upon hearing the first track, it’s apparent that Five Iron Frenzy, as musicians, have greatly improved (and Reese has improved his vocals, too). Even though this album actually doesn’t contain any technical fan favorites (although “Far, Far Away” and “Spartan” come quite close), it’s still worth getting because the musical quality of the album is simply great.

…Electric Boogaloo starts off with “Pre-Ex-Girlfriend”, the lyrics of which pretty much sound like what you’d expect from the track’s title.

“Far, Far Away” is a great song, inspired by “Come The Day” by the Seekers.

“You Can’t Handle This” is a bit strange (and quite sarcastic).

“Farsighted” is another great, energy-filled, rocking song that encourages people with hopes and dreams.

In “Spartan”, Reese begs to be opened up to love, and to not close it off anymore.

“The Day We Killed” is a very heavy and cutting criticism of the battle of Wounded Knee. It also includes a reading from the book “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown.

“Plan B” is very sarcastic; it’s a criticism of people who give up and don’t even try to do anything with their lives.

“Blue Mix” warns people to watch bands (and listen to their lyrics) carefully, including Five Iron themselves, to make sure that they aren’t doing it only for fame and money and that they actually do care; and also to make sure that they aren’t leading you somewhere you don’t want to go.

“Vultures” is another fairly sarcastic song; this one criticizes those who have lots of financial ‘success’ but are really living empty lives.

“Car” is a memorial/tribute for Carlos Ortega, the song being written by bandmember Leanor Ortega.

And the fitting closer track “Eulogy” is very metaphorical— speaking of wanting the old broken ways to die. (And, surprisingly , there are no hidden tracks.)

In all, Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo is a great FIF album.

Our rating for Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo: 5 Stars.

All The Hype That Money Can Buy begins with “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. That pretty much says it (sarcastically speaking)… it’s not the best opener.

However, the next track “Me Oh My” (a fan favorite) picks up the pace a bit more and definitely makes up for the previous track.

“Solidarity” has good lyrics, but musically is a bit silly-sounding (goofy vocals and sound effects, etc.).

“The Phantom Mullet” contains hilarious lyrics about the mullet hairstyle.

“Ugly Day” is another fan fave; its lyrics describe deeply missing someone.

“Faranheit” is cynical, strange, and somewhat unpleasant (see the Content Advisory); and the music could have been better, too.

“Four-Fifty-One” calls people out for not being bold enough, and for holding on too tightly to symbolism, legalism, and forms instead of functions. [Note: For an explanation of this last point, please see our Debate #2: Christian Music article.]

“You Probably Shouldn’t Move Here” is another absolutely hilarious song, this time about California (and about leaving it and moving to Colorado)! They inexplicably add yodeling, too. “You Probably Shouldn’t Move Here” is definitely one of their funniest songs.

“Hurricanes” slows down the pace a bit, but is fairly good.

“Giants” starts off with strange, maniacal laughter; it has humorous and mock-creepy music, too. It criticizes those who desire power and dominance, crushing all in their path without remorse. “Giants” is one of the most musically interesting tracks FIF has done.

“I Still Like Larry” is hilarious nonsense.

“All The Hype” light-heartedly pokes fun at, well, all the hype. At the end lead singer Reese Roper explains that they’re just normal people, like everyone else; just because they’re in a band doesn’t mean they’re better.

Their cover of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” is not great, but it’s at least okay, and it has a humorous ending.

“A New Hope” is a hope-out-of-tragedy memorial of the people who were murdered in the Columbine school shootings.

Finally, “World Without End”— one last fan favorite— is the perfect closer track. It’s a great song, and it fades out to a chorus of voices only.

[Note: This album also contains a pregap hidden track, consisting of several quick seconds of jamming and then the band saying “What’s up?” ]

In total, it’s a fair CD.

Our rating for All The Hype That Money Can Buy: 4 Stars.

 

Proof That The Youth Are Revolting was recorded at Cornerstone Festival IL. in 1999.

This live recording sounds amazing in all ways— the sound itself is incredible (almost studio quality), and their musical performance on most of the songs is better than their original recorded versions!

Proof… contains pretty much all of the fan-favorite songs that had been recorded before ’99 (such as “One Girl Army”, “Oh Canada”, “A Flowery Song”, “Handbook for the Sellout”, “Dandelions”, “Suckerpunch”, the “Kingdom Of The Dinosaurs” hidden track, “Arnold & Willis & Mr. Drumond”, “Where 0 Meets 15”, “Superpowers”, “Blue Comb 78”, and “Every New Day”) and even a few ‘new’ songs that you hear for the first time live on this record before they were released on a studio album (the “It’s Not Unusual” cover, “New Hope”, and “Ugly Day”).

And, of course, it also contains some great crowd participation, plenty of extra humor thrown in between the songs, and all the other elements that make live shows so great.

Plus— as usual for a Five Iron album— there’s a hidden track! This one is especially funny because it features real outtakes and bloopers from the previous 11 shows that they had tried to record.

All of this together makes Proof That The Youth Are Revolting an excellent album and a definite must for anyone who likes Five Iron Frenzy.

Our rating for Proof That The Youth Are Revolting (Live): 5 & 1/4 Stars.

 

This is Five Iron Frenzy’s only CD EP (they did release one or two more on vinyl). However, this EP is well-known, full-length, and completely exclusive, so we count it as a regular release (as explained in our FAQ).

The opening track “My Evil Plan To Save The World” starts off quite funny; then the lyrics get more serious towards the end. (Lead singer Reese Roper also gives a helpful explanation of the song’s meaning in the liner notes.)

“All That Is Good” encourages you to use your mind to test and find the truth.

“Dandelions” is not only a fan fave, it’s one of the all-time top fan faves. It’s an excellent song.

“One Girl Army” is another fan fave and a great energetic rocker. It encourages girls to simply be themselves; it also speaks of society at large.

FIF next adds a cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”. It’s the only really weak track of the disc.

“When I Go Out” is a funny, strange, short, and rapid nonsense song.

“Get Your Riot Gear”, as Reese explains in the liner notes, is about a riot that happened after Superbowl XXXII in Denver, CO.

“The Untimely Death Of Brad” is hilariously funny. And no, Brad did NOT actually die, thank goodness! This song is merely making fun of the rumors and wild speculation that can be found on the internet (obviously, a bad rumor somehow got started about Brad). Unfortunately this is not uncommon, especially among celebrities. A rumor gets started about a celebrity’s death, and then if it gains enough momentum the ‘news’ will eventually get back around to that person; and if they have a sense of humor, like FIF, they can at least get a good laugh out of what really isn’t funny.

Tracks 9 through 16 (not listed on the CD back) are collectively called “These Are Not My Pants (The Rock Opera)”, which is one of the silliest (and one of the absolute funniest) things Five Iron Frenzy’s ever done. It is indeed a rock opera… and it is indeed about pants (and trying to find out whose they are)! Each of the tracks are musically different— for example, track 12 is fake Hardcore, with outrageous, exaggerated vocals. And the last Rock Opera track, 16, makes fun of some mainstream rappers that swear (they add in fake bleep-outs where there’s obviously nothing to censor, etc.). The hilarity of the whole thing is enormous, and it’s just as funny on later listens as it is on the first.

And, as usual, there is of course a hidden track after that. After about 5 minutes of silence on track 17, you finally get to it, but it’s worth the wait. It features the band goofing around in the studio again; first, they practice “When I Go Out” several times, and then they follow that with the hilarious made-up “Kingdom Of The Dinosaurs”.

Five Iron Frenzy’s Quantity Is Job 1 EP is one of their best releases, and it’s a definite fan must-have.

Our rating for Quantity Is Job 1 (EP): 5 Stars.

 

Our Newest Album Ever!, Five Iron’s second CD release, contains many songs that would become instant fan favorites.

“Handbook For The Sellout” is a song directed at those who’ve, well, sold out— rather than being themselves (and being satisfied with who they are), they changed to go the fake and ‘popular’ route… and consequently failed.

“Where Is Micah?” is a cute song that has no other purpose than to rib Micah Ortega (one of their guitarists).

“Superpowers” is a hilarious tune describing Five Iron’s highly unglamorous life as a band, in contrast to what music fans often think.

“Fistful Of Sand” is a good, but rather strange-sounding, song that shows how futile it is to lust for wealth here on earth.

“Suckerpunch” is an underdog anthem.

“Blue Comb ’78” is another cute song that actually created a tradition among fans to literally send and give blue combs to the band— a tradition that lasted right up to (and probably past) the band’s end.

“Oh, Canada” is another hilarious tune about, well, Canada and all the things that make it great…

“Most Likely To Succeed” reproves the selfish and brings them down to earth.

And to cap off the album is “Every New Day”, a great song that Five Iron traditionally closed every live show with.

(Attached afterwards is a hilarious hidden track called “The Godzilla Song”, which is basically them goofing around in the recording studio. )

This is one of Five Iron Frenzy’s classic albums (and also one of their best), a must-have for any F.I.F. fan.

Our rating for Our Newest Album Ever!: 4 & 1/2 Stars.