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Top Ten Favorite Break Up Albums


_Kyle_

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I think it's pretty self explanatory. From Dylan's Blood on the Tracks to Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak, modern musicians have always been making tributes to those nasty breakups that torment their tender souls. Of course most albums are littered with songs about post-relationship angst and frustration. But only few albums deal exclusively and so intently on the subject, thus making them quintessential breakup albums. Lyrics and interpretations are always subjective, but I only included albums I was for sure purely about break-ups.

10. The Gaslight Anthem - The 59 Sound
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Some might be caught off guard by this inclusion. If the open admiration for the Boss and the explosion of yesteryear riddled throughout weren't distracting enough, the album is pretty upbeat most of the time. Actually, the album isn't a downer at all in spirit, but only until you pay attention to the lyrics does it become clear most of the songs are about Brian Fallon's ex-wife. What many find so attractive to the Gaslight Anthem (and era that they're paying tribute to) is the heartfelt soul to the songs. The Gaslight Anthem offer us a glimpse of a better time and how much nostalgia haunts us.

9. Beck - Sea Change
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It was a little strange when Beck released Sea Change back in 2002. In the mid 90s, Beck was labeled as the king of the slacker, irony baked, gen-x movement. Also, he was a genius, an artist, a brilliant left-field sucess. The last thing people expected was a fullly sincere record about his broken heart. What is actually stranger is that the record sounds like a break-up album, and not some abstract offshoot of crying your eyes out. Beck is a sadsack and he fully embodies the experience. All in all, you never felt close to Beck as a person until Sea Change. Most of the material is about his breakup over a long term girlfriend of seven years.  The album is just somber and sad. It's a wonderfully meloncollie listen and shows more the man who almost seemed un-human.

8. Beulah - Yoko
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Maybe the title is a give-away. But yes, this album is about women troubles. No, not the kind that comes around once a month, but the kind that leave you with your heart torn out and on the floor. Every memeber of Beulah had either broken up with their girlfriend or had a painfull divorce since their previous album. Bitterness and resentment is everywhere you look. Sarcasm is used as a weapon. The sunny guitar driven indie rock is still present, but the album's lyrics are dominated by cyncism. I wish they would of stayed around to make another album, perhaps a bit cheerier, but Yoko stands as a great side of the band that wasn't afraid to bitch about their exs.

7. Reggie And The Full Effect - Songs Not To Get Married To
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All man, this album really fucking rocks in a very sad place. R&TFE is known for its tongue in cheek brand of humor and it's bi-polar ability to switch from euro-pop to trash metal, but things have never been delivered with so few laughs. That being said, this is James Dewees ode to divorce. Coming from somebody known for writing sappy love songs and jokey emo-metal, it was a little unsettling to see James so serious. Also his drug problem was a huge problem by this point and was taking a toll on his relationships. Some of the song titles like "What The Hell Is Stipulation?" and "What The Hell is Contempt?" are actual lines James said when he was served with divorce papers while on tour. Despite all this, Get Well Soon might be R&TFE's catchiest song and best mixture of the reggie's unusual sound.

6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
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Man goes to a cabin in northwestern Wisconsin for three months of solitude to record album. Man emerge with For Emma, Forever Ago. Justin Vernon's debut as Bon Iver will forever be hailed as one of the most intimate, haunting, sullen, affairs ever recorded. Thankfully it was pretty catchy and poignant. It's the kind of album you put the same song on repeat and just listen to it over and over. It's also perfect for driving around in the country at night thinking about every loss you've had.

5. Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors
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Some people never get over their first love. This seems to be the struggle to which we find our hero Conor Oberst on Fevers & Mirrors. Addiction is sickness, love is reflection. Or is it the other way around? Or is all the same? Probably not, but these four symbols devour this record. Perhaps the darkest Bright Eyes record, as Fevers and Mirrors carries no sunlight. Just you, inside of yourself, trapped.

4. Jack's Mannequin - Everything In Transit
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Everything In Transit is a sunny slice of piano-driven pop-rock. But lyrically, it's chock full of post-relationship guilt and new found self-discovery. In reality, it was Andrew McMahon detailing his first experience outside of his old band Something Corporate and his decision to end his longest romantic relationship of his young life. What's eerie, is the looming theme of hospitals and treatment that would later become a reality when Andrew was diagnosed with cancer. As the story famously goes, the promotion for the album was put on hold until Andrew was well. Thankfully he made a full recovery and the album was a hit, paying off the 30,000 dollars Andrew had sunk into it before being picked up by a major label.

3. Brand New - Deja Entendu
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It caught many off guard, and continues to be worshiped. Should I even talk about it? I mean, who hasn't listened, absorbed, and memorized this classic? Well, for those who haven't given the album or the band a chance, this is probably the best album to start with.  For a band who was butthurt over some guy in Taking Back Sunday one album ago, this record is a bit more mature. Jesse Lacey's admiration for Morrisey never shown as bright as it does on tracks like Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Dont, and The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot.Lacey contemplates the meaningless of one night stands and cheating in Me vs. Maradona, vs. Elvis, and Sic Transit Glory.....Glory Fades. But perhaps the biggest jump for the band is the final song Play Crack The Sky which uses a metaphorical shipwreck for failed relationships. Guernica is also about Jesse Lacey's grandfather's losing battle with cancer. But for all the quiet parts, there's plenty of rage to be had. You could argue that every Brand New record is a breakup record, but this one will probably go down as their peak.

2. The Format - Dog Problems
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I bought this the week it came out based on a small preview from their myspace page. And If there was a happier break-up record, I haven't heard it. I actually might have, but it probably wasn't as good as Dog Problems. The Format was a band struggling with finding their footing until this little gem came out in the summer of 2006 and won them a bigger fanbase and critical praise. The music overall has a timeless appeal and adopts a orchestra indie pop sound. Desert Pop is often the label attributed to the Arizona band, and Oceans exudes that very notion. Perhaps the greatest self-aware lyric about breaking up and putting it out comes from the title track, "This is the sound...of my heart breaking. And I hope it entertaining, cause for me....it's a bitch" Nate Ruess croons. I find myself playing this record when I'm happy and sad. It's really the best of both worlds. It's uplifting, yet resonates with your trauma. It's perfect.

1. The Good Life - Album Of The Year
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I would argue that this is Tim Kasher's masterpiece. But I'm guessing Cursive fans would kindly disagree and tell me to go sit in the corner and cry like the emo pussy that I probably am. But this is easily the best The Good Life album. It seems like the band was built for this kind of record. It's a concept record about Tim Kasher's divorce. All twelve songs represent a month in their 2 year relationship, describing the rise and fall told through various viewpoints. Of course, it's not entirely non-fiction. Kasher asserts that it's not accurate to his real-life divorce at all. But even still, the record feels as authentic as they come. It's Kasher's use of details that makes the album so unique. Rather than just build on feelings, Kasher paints his characters with dimentions and life. Between the alcohalism, the fidelity, the boredom, the insercurity, the lies, Kasher lays out all the dirty laundry and juicy details. But after seeing Tim Kasher sob while playing the title song in concert and changing the last lyric to "It Still Hurts!", it's impossible for me to not find this album simply moving.

Runner Up : Death Cab For Cutie - We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes

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Lol @ the article sized post.

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

Motion City - Even If It Kills Me

Brand New - Deja

The rest will come to me later.

Since school has been out. I felt the need to write.

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Lol @ the article sized post.

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

Motion City - Even If It Kills Me

Brand New - Deja

The rest will come to me later.

Since school has been out. I felt the need to write.

I enjoyed it

me too.

As for break up records I'm fond of, 40 Hour Train Back to Penn. Yeah the whole things not about break ups, but as with pop punk in general, the most part is. And for me is one of the best records of the mid-2000's drive thru period

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i enjoyed as well.

the latest Noah and the Whale album "The First Days of Spring" is worth a mention as well i think. A lot of people will be familiar with their really poppy, happy debut album but FDOS was written after his break-up with Laura Marling and it's about coming to terms and getting over his devastation etc etc.

Last night I slept with a stranger

For the first time, since you've gone

Regretfully lying naked, I reflect on what I've done

Her leg still forced inbetween mine, sticking to my skin

Stroking my chest and my hair, head resting below my chin

I'm a fox trapped in the headlgihts

and I'm waiting, for the tyres to spin over me

GRIM

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^Yeah, I heard that whole album is pretty  :cry:

Good call on Los Campesinos! too. I guess that is a break-up album. Their lyrics are always kind of hard to keep up with sometimes. I love the new album aswell.

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The title track from that los C record is like my main break up song really haha.

BThe title track from that los C record is like my main break up song really haha.

By the light of the LED display of a VCR recorder

You kiss my neck, I whisper in your ear, "this is my downfall"

As you squint and you grimace, we both know your heart's not in it

By the glow of a thousand fireflies in a travelodge en-suite:

They think the future's bright as halogen, we know it's pretty bleak

And I'm trying to be sexy, biting at the air that falls in front of me.

Your telegrams are more and more less detailed by the day

And all the characters are strangers and the pubs have different names

I tell a joke that I'd like to meet them but they loathe me and I hate them back

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Fondness makes the absence longer

Length loses my interest, I'm a realist, I'm insatiable

Swapped counting days until I fly, with hours before your reply

You said he got his teeth fixed

I'm gonna break them

I've got a heart on fire

He said he's got his sights set

On getting to you

I've got a fist on fire

You feel terrified at the thought of being left behind

Of losing everybody, the necessity of dying

Oh, WE KID OURSELVES THERE'S FUTURE IN THE FUCKING,

BUT THERE IS NO FUCKING FUTURE

I'm just practising my accents, picking at old sutures

I taught myself the only way to vaguely get along in love

Is to like the other slightly less than you get in return

I keep feeling like I'm being undercut

Charlotte says, "It's more constructive than the one in Canada,

When you got drunk,

Ate loads of crisps

And threw up by a football pitch"

I know it is,

And really that's what worries me,

I feel like I should

Hurt.

You said he got his teeth fixed

I'm gonna break them

I've got a heart on fire

He said he's got his sights set

On getting to you

I've got a fist on fire

I cannot emphasise enough that my body

Is a badly designed, poorly put together vessel,

Harbouring these diminishing, so-called 'vital organs'

Hope my heart goes first,

I HOPE MY HEART GOES FIRST!

And

We are beautiful,

We are doomed.

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