Bowling For Soup – Songs People Actually Liked Volume 2 assessment
Bowling For Soup are celebrating their twenty ninth anniversary with the extremely anticipated follow-up to the 2015 best hits compilation, Songs People Actually Liked.
While the primary version coated the band’s up-and-coming years from 1994 to 2003, Songs People Actually Liked Volume 2 highlights what’s arguably Bowling For Soup’s most iconic period stretching from 2004 to 2009.
This consists of chart-toppers and record-breakers like 1985, High School Never Ends and Almost; probably making it the most well-liked tracklist Bowling For Soup will ever have in a single album.
Volume 2 is much more jam-packed than its predecessor and Jaret Reddick’s huskier vocals add a wholly new melancholy depth to fan-favourite ballads like When We Die.
In the eight years since their final best hits album, Bowling For Soup has additionally seemingly perfected their choral vocals and it’s virtually inconceivable to not grin by songs like Ohio which can be neck-deep in nostalgia.
The band’s latest member, bassist Rob Felicetti, is delightfully highlighted within the notorious spoken-word bridge in I’m Gay, and the now-five-piece group clearly nonetheless have their distinctive notes of camaraderie and brotherhood.
Bowling For Soup have additionally taken the chance to do some manufacturing adjustments all through the report. Tempo alterations and pitch changes in some numbers construct a super-slick completed product the second time round.
However, all through the album, there’s some unrealised potential because it doesn’t actually supply the up to date social commentary followers is likely to be anticipating.
While their 2015 best hits album didn’t majorly reimagine any tracks, Bowling For Soup had a pristine alternative so as to add some updates, dripping of their typical model of sarcasm, to hits like 1985 that have been shaped across the popular culture of the time.
Songs like BFFF and I’m Gay do get just a few updates but it surely leaves a way of eager for what High School Never Ends may have been.
Similarly, what would be the greatest disappointment for followers is the affirmation that they won’t be getting the brand new model of 1985 that many anticipated in 2023 to rejoice its nineteenth anniversary. The similar period of time between the tune’s launch and the precise yr 1985.
After Pop Drunk Snot Bread’s launch final yr, Bowling For Soup clearly nonetheless have their inimitable knack for hilarious and poignant social commentary which just about makes it a little bit extra disheartening that they’ve missed the chance to resume their hottest tracks.
Ultimately, Songs People Actually Liked Volume 2 is a very sound album, providing the identical songs followers fell in love with however only a decade later.
Bowling For Soup – Songs People Actually Liked Volume 2 comes out August 25, 2023.