Yellowcard: Ocean Avenue (20th anniversary) [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

This 20th anniversary edition is pressed in the EU. Ocean Avenue went platinum in the US and gold in Canada, and its title track reached No. 37 on the Hot 100 on its way to double platinum.

This edition

• 20th anniversary edition
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

A pop-punk band with a full-time violinist sounds like a dare, and Yellowcard took it. The Florida band had moved to California chasing a label, signed to Capitol in 2002, and in February and March 2003 cut their major-label debut at Sunset Sound in Hollywood with producer Neal Avron. Peter Mosely came in on bass from Inspection 12 for the sessions, and the band had their sights set on a much wider audience.

Sean Mackin's violin is the secret weapon, sawing through the guitars on "Way Away" and lifting the title track skyward, while Ryan Key carries the heart-on-sleeve choruses of "Breathing" and "Empty Apartment." "Way Away" arrived as the lead single during that summer's Warped Tour, and the band followed it with a club tour of the US before heading out with Less Than Jake and Fall Out Boy.

Critics singled out Mackin's playing and the songwriting at the time, and the album has since earned a place among pop-punk's best-loved records. It's a punk record whose secret weapon travels in a hard case with a bow, which must have puzzled a few airport security desks.

Also at Kops: more Yellowcard on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Capitol / UMe (cat# B0037851-01), a reissue of the 2003 album.