Yellowcard - One for the Kids / Lobster Records / 11 Tracks / http://www.lobsterrecords.com / http://www.yellowcardrock.com / Released 2001 , Reviewed 09.07.2003

Known primarily for their contribution to the Plea for Peace, Vol. 2 compilation, California's own Yellowcard came blasting onto the scene with this disc, bringing the idea of a violin to other, more well-known bands (The All-American Rejects), that classical instruments (the Violin) can be used to great success. Creating a different piece of art with each song, "One for the Kids" plays to all walks of folks, regardless of how they may be labeled. Sounding at times like one of the bands that they've thanked in the liner notes, Dogwood, Yellowcard has more than a passing similarity to Matthew West, Philmore, and Taking Back Sunday. "Trembling" has the sound more like a live track - the hollow sound of what I could only assume to be an acoustic meshes perfectly with the polished vocals. Modeling itself after a sythesizer beat, the violin lines in :Sureshot" lead the listener into a hook-laden track that is utterly perfect for the mosh-pitters or pogoers. "Big Apply Heartbreak" brings to this disc two things that would make their later single "Powder" so relevant: excellently-placed double-placed harmonies, a chorus battling both vocalist's voices, and lyrics that just lend themselves to repeat. It is the simple fact that "Big Apple Heartbreak" experiments more than "Powder" that places it at a more desirable level than "Powder", but "Powder's" repetition is precisely why it blew up so largely.

Top Tracks : Rock Star Land, Star Struck