New Found Glory (album)

Background and recording

Following the underground success of debut album Nothing Gold Can Stay (1999), Drive-Thru Records founder Richard Reines had paid Eulogy Recordings $5,000 to license the album and sign the band. Drive-Thru had initially wanted to re-release Nothing Gold Can Stay along with a newly recorded version of breakthrough single "Hit or Miss". Chad Gilbert said of the process, "So we went into the studio with Jerry Finn and recorded it with him. I don't like how it came out, at all. He was such a cool guy, but we were like, "nah, we don't want to use it". From then on, every band that worked with him expressed that Jerry Finn didn't like our band". The song was never used and the band decided to start work on a second album. The recording was later included as a bonus track on the tenth anniversary edition of the album in 2010.

Having met with producer Neal Avron, the two parties discussed the desired sound the band were striving for on the record. Avron said, "During pre-production, we'd get in their van for lunch and they had a poster of Britney Spears up. They wanted the music to be heavy, but the vocals to be super-pop, that was the goal". Steve Klein, the band's rhythm guitarist and lyricist, said of the writing: "A lot of those songs pertained to my early relationships, my first love, that entire time period. I was seventeen years old. Every record that we had is a timetable to my life. My wife can now look back and listen to my diaries as a teenager."

Tenth anniversary edition and tour

During late 2009, the band announced they were planning a commemorative tour in early 2010 to celebrate the album's tenth anniversary. A special edition re-release of the album was confirmed which featured seven bonus tracks and a DVD. Soon after in December 2009, AbsolutePunk officially announced the special anniversary edition of the album would be released on January 26, 2010 through Geffen Records.

The additional material includes new liner notes, demos, b-sides, The Story So Far DVD and a remix of debut single "Hit or Miss" by the late Jerry Finn. The re-issue also included a slightly altered version of the original cover art designed by Tim Stedman. Its collage of faded photos, including images of video games, roller skates and a Playboy, is said to encapsulate the band members' lives as teenagers (when the album was written). A full tour commencing on January 29 was also confirmed, titled The 10 Year Anniversary of the Self-Titled Record Tour, where the band would play the record in its entirety, with support from Saves the Day, Hellogoodbye and Fireworks. During the tour, the band played through the records twelve songs from start to finish, followed by an extended encore, with up to eight additional songs.

Critical reception

Upon the album's release, it was well received by music critics. Allmusic writer Richie Unterberger awarded the album a favorable 3½ stars out of five. Despite stating the album wasn't "entirely original," he praised the record's "choppy uptempo rhythms, spiky buzzing guitars, and youthful harmonies." He also added that "there were less likable young punk bands that could have been honored with a record deal in 2000". Michael Dabaie of College Music Journal was also favorable in his review. Comparing the band to Green Day, Face to Face and Blink-182, he stated, "New Found Glory hits on a winning formula on its self-titled record: Without treading too far from the aggro path blazed years ago by bands like Dag Nasty, the quintet delivers catchy pop-punk riffs, smooth vocal harmonies and songs that are angst-ridden without being nihilistic. These guys exude sincerity, and lyrics like "The needle on my record player is wearing thin/This record has been playing since the day you've been with him" will ring true with everyone who ever wore out their Descendents records during a bad breakup."

British rock magazine Kerrang! awarded the album a maximum five K! score. Describing the release as the band's "essential purchase," they also wrote, "Marking one of the biggest and quickest improvements in alternative music, the band's major label debut hurled them to the forefront of the punk scene. Packed with infectious melodies and sing-along anthems, it would see them jostling with the likes of Blink-182 for the genre's crown." Fellow British magazine NME awarded the album 8/10 and opined the band had "spot-on vocal harmonies that add just the right amount of pop tinge to [their] relentlessly hard-charging tunes." Writing for webzine PopMatters, Andy Argyrakis was of the view that the band succeeded in writing simple, easily relatable songs that translate well in a live setting. He also added that "The band’s sound runs the gamut of many of the popular punk bands of today – MXPX, Blink-182 and SR-71." Reviewing the 10th Anniversary Edition in 2010, Adam Kennedy of Rock Sound explained that the re-issue was a "timely reminder of their bratty pop-punk beginnings. If heartfelt accounts of adolescent love and loss is what you're looking for, New Found Glory is as relevant today as ten years previous." Kerrang! also issued a new article covering its tenth anniversary re-issue. George Garner wrote "without them, pop-punk would be missing some of its most anthemic moments, and All Time Low wouldn't have their name."

Retrospective reviews

Arielle Castillo of the Miami New Times wrote a retrospective article on the album in 2010. She recalled how their "self-titled second album catapulted the Coral Springs quartet to national stardom. Released before emo had become a dirty word, the disc boasted a boisterous but sensitive pop-punk mood that was reflected on its cover - perfectly encapsulating the record's lyrical and sonic dance between teenage romantic naiveté and adulthood." PopMatters writer Melissa Bobbit, whilst reviewing a show on the anniversary tour, enthused "what a blessing it is to still have NFG around, on this, the 10th anniversary of their self-titled record. This tour served as a collection of whimsical snapshots in their prolific career. New Found Glory’s influence is vastly felt today. A testament to that was supporting act Fireworks, whose whiplash sound and choreographed jumping all came from the pages of the NFG guidebook to punk-pop." Jason Tate, the founder and CEO of AbsolutePunk, wrote of the album, "Back when New Found Glory's Self-Titled album was released there weren't many that gave it a chance to be one of the building-blocks for an entire genre. However, in hindsight, it appears as though that disc may have had more of an impact than anyone ever could have guessed." Mark Hoppus, who later produced the band's sixth studio album, said of New Found Glory: "It was one of those records that never found its way out of my CD player. New Found Glory just had something different and unique. I was really drawn to their melodies, and their guitar parts were more interesting and more creative than a lot of the stuff that was going on." It was also explained that when Jared Logan was producing Fall Out Boy's debut album, he asked bassist Pete Wentz about the sound the band had desired for recording. Wentz responded by "handing over the first two New Found Glory records".

Accolades

In November 2004, Kerrang! released a feature called "666 Songs You Must Own". In the "New School Punk" category, lead single "Hit or Miss" was placed at number fourteen. Earlier in 2001, Rock Sound placed the album at number forty five in its annual "Critics' Poll of 2001", while in 2012 it was formally inducted into its official Hall of Fame. Later that year, the album again featured, this time at number 39 in the magazine's "101 Modern Classics", a list honoring the best albums between 1997 and 2012. Ben Patashnik expressed that "with this album, NFG capture the best parts of summer – the girls, the sun, the house parties, the heartache, the misery – and cram all of that into 36 hook-laden minutes. Few bands have stayed truer to their roots as NFG over the years, and New Found Glory started it all." The album was included at number 2 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list. NME listed the album as one of "20 Pop Punk Albums Which Will Make You Nostalgic".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by New Found Glory.

DVD

1. "The Story So Far" (Documentary)
2. "Head On Collision" (Promo Video directed by The Malloys)
3. "My Friends Over You" (Promo Video directed by The Malloys)
4. "Dressed To Kill" (Promo Video directed by Richard Reines)
5. "Hit or Miss" (Promo Video directed by Smith n' Borin)
6. "Hit or Miss" (Promo Video directed by Richard Reines)
7. "Video Fanzine" (Bonus Feature)

Personnel

The following personnel contributed to New Found Glory: