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Modern Minds and Pastimes

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Modern Minds and Pastimes
Studio album by
The Click Five
ReleasedJune 26, 2007
Recorded2006
StudioQ Division (Boston, MA)
GenrePower pop[1]
Length42:45
Label
ProducerMike Denneen
The Click Five chronology
Greetings from Imrie House
(2005) 		Modern Minds and Pastimes
(2007) 		TCV
(2010)
Singles from Modern Minds and Pastimes
  1. "Jenny"
    Released: April 10, 2007
  2. "Happy Birthday"
    Released: October 2007
  3. "Empty"
    Released: October 2007
  4. "Flipside"
    Released: May 2008

Modern Minds and Pastimes is the second studio album by The Click Five. It was released on June 26, 2007. The album contains four singles "Jenny", "Happy Birthday", "Empty" and "Flipside".

It was well received in Southeast Asia although the album only reached position #136 in the US Billboard 200 albums chart.

Background

[edit]

Following the release of their debut studio album, Greetings from Imrie House (2005), the group's popularity began to fade.[2] They began working on their second studio album in January 2006 and due to extensive touring, they only had "about half a record" done, pushing back its completion.[3] It was recorded at Q Division Studios in Boston.[4] In March 2007, the group announced the departure of original singer Eric Dill,[5] who left the band on November 20, 2006.[3] Dill left during pre-production for the album and pursued a solo career following his exit from the band.[6] Bassist Ethan Mentzer spoke about his departure stating, "We either had to deal with this or lose what we'd established. And the four of us really wanted to keep making music together."[6]

Dill later revealed that he left the group after expressing an interest in acting, following shooting for their film, Taking Five. He also left the band due to having musical differences with the other members and stated that they "resisted working with me on song writing." However, Mentzer claimed that they were writing the songs and Dill wasn't.[3] They began searching for a new lead vocalist at Berklee College of Music and did multiple rounds of auditions, before they were recommended Hillside Manor singer Kyle Patrick,[3] who was suggested to them by music-business professor Jeff Dorenfeld, a friend of the band's manager Wayne Sharp.[6] After checking his MySpace page, the group called Patrick confirming his role with the band.[7]

Composition

[edit]

Writing out 70 songs, the group narrowed down to 12 tracks for the album. According to Mentzer, the band had written some songs for Modern Minds and Pastimes before their first album was even completed.[3] Mentzer said that the band wrote more personal and autobiographical lyrics and said the album had "more depth and maturity."[3] The opening track "Flipside" and "Jenny" contain influences of a post-grunge and fuzz-rock sound, to the liking of Weezer, while "Happy Birthday" features a pop metal sound.[6] Kyle Patrick co-wrote "Empty" before joining the band.[8] The fourth track "Addicted to Me" features a lot of synthesizers and draws influences from The Romantics and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, while the seventh track "Headlight Disco" is described as disco.[3] According to keyboardist Ben Romans, the group wrote "Headlight Disco" to have more synthesizers than guitars, experimenting with that type of sound.[9]

Promotion

[edit]

The album's lead single "Jenny", was released on April 10, 2007.[10] Before the album's release, the band embarked on a mid-May tour to support its upcoming release.[11] The album was officially released on June 26, 2007.[12] A music video for "Jenny" was released on July 3, 2007, and was directed by the Aggressive.[13] The group embarked on a tour with Hilary Duff from August to September 2007, in support of the album.[14] "Happy Birthday" and "Empty" were both released as singles in October 2007, in Thailand and the Philippines.[15] In the spring of 2008, the band headlined their Modern Minds and Great Times World Tour.[16] "Flipside" was released as the fourth and final single in May 2008.[16]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB-[17]
IGN6.8/10[1]
PopMatters[18]

The album was met with mixed reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated "the Click Five replaced their retro-rock leanings with retro-new wave flair -- a shameless attempt to follow fashion, but one that should be expected, even embraced, by a band that has nothing more than dreams of big hits in mind. If only the music on this second album, Modern Minds and Pastimes, were as big, tasteless and gaudy as the Click Five's career machinations! Part of the problem is that substituting the Killers for the Strokes means that the band relies too much on pumping wannabe anthems and layers of tongue-in-cheek retro-synths, which give the album a bit of a chilly distanced feel at odds with music designed to be teen trash, but also to be the group's strengths."[4] Entertainment Weekly felt that the album "packs maximum velocity but not a lot of punch," finding the lovelorn lyrics "banal at best."[17] Chad Grischow of IGN described the album as "an unfortunately uneven listen with enough catchy bubblegum pop to make it worth a listen, but not worth keeping the entire album on your iPod for long."[1]

Colin McGuire of PopMatters remarked, "the problem that runs rampant throughout the Click Five’s most recent disaster: insincerity. Songs like 'When I'm Gone' and 'The Reason Why' simply feel incredibly disingenuous. New lead singer Kyle Patrick's predictable voice never seems to present any of his new band's words with any type of consequential emotion or believability. And while '[When I'm] Gone' is a flat-out lame attempt at 'rocking', '[The Reason] Why' is nothing more than another manufactured boy-right-out-of-his-teens kind of likes girl-probably-still-in-her-teens enough to claim he is in love tune. And none of it seems honest."[18]

Commercial performance

[edit]

Modern Minds and Pastimes debuted at number 136 on the US Billboard 200. As of March 2009, the album sold 50,000 copies in the United States.[2] The singles "Jenny", "Empty" and "Happy Birthday" reached number one on the Singapore 987FM Top 20 countdown.[19]

Track listing

[edit]
Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Flipside"Ben Romans, Kristian Lundin, Carl Falk3:07
2."Jenny"Romans, Chris Braide3:22
3."Happy Birthday"Romans, Braide3:29
4."Addicted to Me"Romans, Ethan Mentzer4:08
5."I'm Getting Over You"Romans, Mentzer, Braide3:20
6."When I'm Gone"Romans, Mentzer2:59
7."Headlight Disco"Romans, Mentzer3:41
8."The Reason Why"Romans, Nate Campany3:40
9."All I Need Is You"Romans, Mentzer, Campany3:22
10."Long Way to Go"Mentzer3:43
11."Mary Jane"Romans, Mentzer, Andreas Carlsson, Lisa Greene3:50
12."Empty"Romans, Kyle Patrick4:01
Total length:42:45
Japanese edition[20]
No.TitleLength
13."Summertime"2:38
14."Jenny" (acoustic version)3:18
15."Empty" (acoustic version)4:07
Total length:52:48
Tour edition and iTunes deluxe edition[21]
No.TitleLength
13."Summertime"2:38
14."So It Goes"2:33
15."American Royalty"2:51
16."Long Way to Go" (acoustic version)3:43
17."Mary Jane" (acoustic version)3:52
18."The Reason Why" (acoustic version)3:39
Total length:62:01
Tour edition DVD (CD only)[22]
No.TitleLength
1."Jenny" (karaoke music video) 
2."Behind the Band Part 1" 
3."Happy Birthday" (karaoke music video) 
4."Behind the Band Part 2" 
5."Empty" (karaoke music video) 
6."Behind the Band Part 3" 
7."Mary Jane" (promo version) 
8."Behind the Band Part 4" 
9."Jenny" (Acoustic Sessions) 
10."Behind the Band Part 5" 
11."Long Way to Go" (Acoustic Sessions) 
12."Mary Jane" (Acoustic Sessions) 
13."Empty" (live @ MOS Singapore) 
14."Headlight Disco" (live @ MOS Singapore) 

Personnel

[edit]

Credits for adapted from album's liner notes.[23]

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Modern Minds and Pastimes
Chart (2007) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[24] 136

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Chad Grischow (July 27, 2007). "The Click Five - Modern Minds And Pastimes Review". IGN. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Anderman, Joan (March 7, 2009). "Catch the fallen stars". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 11, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Click Five returns to its roots for new fifth member". Chicago Tribune. May 29, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Modern Minds and Pastimes Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". AllMusic. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  5. ^ "The Click Five and Dill part ways". The Boston Globe. March 12, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d Lance Fiasco (June 25, 2007). "Click Five Enters Round Two with New Singer". idobi Radio. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  7. ^ "Click Five enters round two with new singer". Reuters. August 9, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "Interview with Kyle Patrick of The Click Five". arjanwrites.com. August 14, 2007. Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
  9. ^ Shawna Ortega (March 6, 2009). "The Click Five's Ben Romans". Songfacts. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  10. ^ "Jenny - Single by The Click Five". Spotify. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  11. ^ Katie Hasty (April 23, 2007). "Billboard Bits: Dresden Dolls, Click Five, Sir Andre Previn". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  12. ^ Nikita Sabharwal (June 4, 2007). "Up Close and Personal With the Click 5!". Seventeen. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  13. ^ "The Click Five - 'Jenny'". MTV. July 3, 2007. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  14. ^ "The Click Five". Billboard. September 13, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  15. ^ Christian Bima (March 23, 2020). "5 songs from The Click Five that will bring back memories of school in the 2000s". IDN Times. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Bong Godinez (May 30, 2008). "The Click Five performs tonight at the Big Dome". PEP.ph. GMA Network Inc. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Entertainment Weekly: Modern Minds and Pastimes - Review". Entertainment Weekly. July 6, 2007. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  18. ^ a b Colin McGuire (August 19, 2007). "The Click Five: Modern Minds and Pastimes". PopMatters. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
  19. ^ "The Click Five Modern Minds and Great Times Tour". Singapore Indoor Stadium. April 7, 2008. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  20. ^ "モダン・マインズ・アンド・パスタイムス～現代的精神と暇つぶし" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  21. ^ "Modern Minds and Pastimes (Deluxe Edition) - Album by The Click Five". Apple Music. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  22. ^ "Modern Minds and Pastimes (Tour Edition) [CD+DVD]". Amazon. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  23. ^ Modern Minds and Pastimes (album liner notes). Atlantic Records. 2007.
  24. ^ "The Click Five - Awards & Charts". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
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