Customer Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best of 2007 Period.
Comment: There were a lot of records released in 2007 and a few awesome albums, like the Knife's "Silent Shout" and James Morrison's "Undiscovered" while 2007 also saw successful commercial releases like Rhianna's record "Good Girl Gone Bad" and Alicia Key's comeback record. For the most part, Relient K's "Five Scores and Seven Years ago" went past most people's radars and was largely misunderstood by such publications as "Rollingstone" calling them "Insipid" and "Bland". I took that criticism in when I listened to "Five Scores" and decided to give a fair trial.
On first listen to "Five Scores" it was hard to really get into it. "Plead the Fifth" seemed like a pointless track that made little sense and the only tracks I found listenable at first were "The Best Thing" and "I Must've Done Something Right". However, on repeated listenings for almost a year, it became appearant that those are possibly the worst tracks on the album. "Plead the Fifth" became clever since the title of the album is a play on "Four Scores and Seven Years ago" it steals from the Abraham Lincoln theme and creates a track about the man who saw Boothe shoot Lincoln, accapella no less.
Probably the best tracks on repeated listenings became "Come Right Out and Say It" and "Bite My Tongue", those tracks belong together because it is impossible to separate saying what you need to say without watching what you say, it is a delicate balance which Thiessen is aware of. The songs vary from bright and poppy "Must've Done Something Right" to relentlessy Pounding "I Need You" and "Devastation and Reform". In response to Rolling Stone' remark that "Give Until Their's Nothing Left" being insipid, it is only to a person who gets paid to be a cynic. It is probably the most sacharine sounding track album, but it packs a punch when you really listen to the lyrics.
For classic Relint K humor, look no further than "Crayons Can Melt on Us for All I Care" and "Faking My Own Suicide", a song that took time to grow on me, but once it did, it became a favorite of mine. To see the immense growth between "Mhmmm" and this album see "Deathbed", this song is an instant classic. An 11 minute epic about a man who is on his deathbed looking back at his life and how his life was a complete mess, and the hope that he has in Jesus upon death. The song took time to grow on me, but once it did, it became from the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs that I have ever heard. If Thiessen keeps growing lyrically and nobody will be able to stop this band from being one of the biggest Christian themed bands in the world, and also universally respected among the secular crowd as well.
As long as Relient K keep their trademark humor in place, and continue to grow lyrically, there is nowhere they can go but up. It is my hope that they do not get spirited away in the midst of success and that they continue to put Jesus first, especially in their lyrics. "Deathbed" is a testimony to the fact that Christian music can be intelligent and original and just as, if not more, innovative than most secular counterparts.
God Bless ~Amy
Customer Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Comment: Musically, this is Relient K's most impressive CD so far. They show a lot of talent in including the all acapella "Plead the Fifth" and the 11 minute epic "Deathbed" is nothing short of a masterpiece. Although the rest of the songs did not produce a mainstream radio-hit like "Be My Escape" provided from Mmhmm, the songs are absolutely better than any of the junk you will find listening to on the radio. The lryics are catchy and positive, and the new more piano-driven songs sound great. I know some tweens are dissapointed that the cd doesnt have any more silly songs that are all over their earlier CDs, and although their earlier cd's were amazing as well, this CD provides way more musical maturity and complexity.
A must buy for any fan of the band or alternative/pop rock music.
Sounds like: Jimmy Eat World, Something Corporate
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Where'd my favorite band go?
Comment: My little brother and I grew up together. Read the same books, watched the same movies, argued and agreed about many of the same things. He copied the way that I dressed and wore my hair. We liked to sit up late, mocking MTV videos and watching anime on the original generation of Adult Swim.
Then I went off to college, and kept moving forward. I hoped that he'd follow, but he quit doing his homework, lost his scholarships, and spends his time working at Wal-Mart and his money on a badly-chosen girl.
What's the relation to this album? It was right about the time that I lost touch with my brother that I lost touch with Relient K, too. I used to feel like we were growing up together. From the goofy "Hello McFly" of their first release, to the genuinely theologically significant "I Am Understood?" of "Two Lefts Don't Make a Right. . . But Three Do," they were writing songs that I related to. I had hoped that that would continue to happen.
But then their music veered sharply into whining, I-hate-myself, why-am-I-even-alive teen drivel. It seems as though, lyrically, Relient K has not just stagnated, but reversed course and become less mature than their earliest work. The witty lyrics are gone, the silly-just-to-be-silly tracks are absent, and the earnest, eager love for life that was apparent in their earlier songs has been replaced by ill-placed-angst. For somebody who loved what they used to be, this album is a crushing disappointment.
I listen to a couple of the tracks on "MMHMM" ("When I go Down" and "Life After Death and Taxes"). As far as I'm concerned, though, the band I liked quit making music years ago.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best Thing Yet From Relient K
Comment: Alright, so, before I begin, I'll just let you know that I am slightly obsessed with Relient K, but I started listening with FiveScore and Seven Years Ago and went backwards through their CDs, so, I do happen to favor this CD a bit...
Plead The Fifth - 8/10
This song both has great vocal harmony and also quite humorous lyrics about the death of Abraham Lincoln being a conspiracy.
"That night at the theater an impersonator died, Mr. Booth was tried, I just kept the truth inside..."
Come Right Out And Say It - 8/10
This song has a bit of that "classic Relient K" sound to it and tells about just bringing things into the open instead of keeping them to ourselves.
"Why don't you come right out and say, come right out and say what I know you're thinking anyway..."
I Need You - 7/10
This song begins with a fast beat and a catchy tune that will be stuck in your head for quite some time. It's about how lost we are without God and how much we need Him.
"I have not been abandoned, no I have not been deserted and I have not been forgotten..."
The Best Thing - 6/10
This song begins with an upbeat piano intro and continues it throughout the rest of the song. It's hard to tell if he's singing it to a girl, or to God. Either way, it's a good song to hear once or twice, but on repeat it can get quite monotonous, quite fast.
"When I looked into your eyes and you dared to stare right back, you should have said 'Nice to meet you, I'm your other half'..."
Forgiven - 9/10
Definitely one of the best songs on the album, Forgiven is about the mistakes we make and asking for forgiveness for them. Some people may cringe at the use of the word "damned" in the song, but it is used in it's truest form.
"We're all guilty of the same things, we think the thoughts whether or not we see them through..."
Must've Done Something Right - 10/10
This song has a happy, upbeat sound to it that is conveyed even through the lyrics which are about a boy who's trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he ends up with a girl who changed his life.
"Came along one day and you re-arranged my life, all I gotta say is I must've done something right..."
Give Until There's Nothing Left - 9/10
This song is a bit slower, and in a quite different style than most other Relient K songs. The lyrics are about giving all we have to God and not asking Him for too much.
"I want all You have to offer, so I'll offer myself and I'll just give until there's nothing else"
Devastation and Reform - 8/10
This song starts off with a loud guitar intro that quiets a bit for the first verse before returning for the chorus. The song is about destroying everything in life before turning to God to help restore what was lost.
"I'll pull my heart out, reconstruct, but in the end it's nothing but a shell of what I had when I first started..."
I'm Taking You With Me - 7/10
This song begins with a set of "woahh"s that remind me a bit of their song "Lion Wilson". The lyrics are about a girl who the singer misses, so, in solution to the problem, he's going to take with him wherever he goes.
"If home is where the heart is then my home is where you are, but it's getting oh-so-hard to spend these days without my heart..."
Faking My Own Suicide - 5/10
This song has a more "country" sound to it, and the lyrics are a bit disturbing. It's a cute sentiment, but I'm not too fond of it. The song itself started as a part of Matt Thiessen's side project, and I think it fit better with those songs than on a Relient K album.
"I'll write you a letter that you'll keep, reminding you your love for me is more than six feet deep..."
Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care - 6/10
Quite a short song at only 12 seconds (ten of which are wasted, or so says Matt) it provides a small break from the louder, more serious songs on the CD.
"I just wasted ten seconds of your life."
Bite My Tongue - 10/10
This is definitely my favorite song on the album, both in sound and in meaning. It is about being careful what we say because our words can be destructive. I like Matt's creative use of the phrase 'too ticked to talk'
"Sometimes I say things that I wish that I could take back; the most crucial thing I lack is a think called tact..."
Up and Up - 9/10
Starting with a guitar intro and a vocal echo of the same tune, Up and Up is one of the happier songs on the CD about moving forward in life and not looking back to the mistakes in the past.
"I get so hung up on the history of what's gone wrong and the hope of a new day is sometimes hard to see..."
Deathbed - 10/10
Deathbed is the best way to pass 10 minutes, hands down. The song changes rhythms and sounds several times during the full 11:05, including a segment of different horns, whistles, bells, and even a mandolin all playing an echo of what sounds a bit like Plead the Fifth... The song is the story of a man's life told from his point of view as he lies dying of cancer. Deathbed features the lead singer from Switchfoot as the voice of Jesus at the end of the song.
"I can hear You whisper to me 'It's time to leave, you'll never be lonely again'..."
So, from Plead the Fifth to Deathbed, Five Score and Seven Years Ago is one of the best CD's I've ever heard, and I would recommend it to fans of the older Relient K as well as to new listeners. <3
Customer Rating:
Summary: great!!!
Comment: i love this cd. it is real catchy. i like most of the songs. relient k has changed a lot. but well it is not the best cd but great you have to hear all the songs to see what i mean. i recommend it to anyone.
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