I won’t spend too long reviewing this as we’ve already done it once when No Sleep put out the album originally. You can read that review at www.punktastic.com/reviews/3586
The band recently signed to Hopeless Records and with the bigger and better distribution and marketing arm Hopeless has, it makes more sense to re-release ‘the Upsides’ halfway through a touring run than it does record an entire new record. Cashing in on the buzz and all that jazz. And there’s certainly a buzz about The Wonder Years right now. They’re one of those bands seemingly picking up fans through word of mouth; a band doing things the old fashioned way without resorting to silly cover songs, daft videos and throwing money at marketing campaigns to get them up the ladder. It’s actually refreshing to see a band grow organically and while I’m usually against re-releases, if this takes them to the next level so be it.
This new package comes with a slew of new/re-recorded tracks so if you’ve already paid for the album once, you can just grab those from iTunes. There’s new artwork, two new songs (including a poignant acoustic track which shows a new side to the band) and two alternative versions of older tracks. I’ve heard people say the re-worked tracks are a bit glossy and they hope it’s not a new side to the band, but it just sounds like a band messing around with an older song and having better resources to record it. If you want a fuller rundown of how good this album is, just read my other review, but I’ll end by saying if you’re yet to discover the band, this would be an excellent place to start.