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Review Summary: An indifferent return. If you’re successful in filtering out the cynical baggage attached to Busted’s reunion – which tries to capitalize on the insurmountable obsession with 90s nostalgia these days – you'll find Half Way There to be a pretty innocent pop-punk album. We live in strange times: people in their 30s obsess over their childhood with borderline perversion; and more surprisingly, younger generations have found an infatuation with the romanticised 80s and 90s being discussed. What this has created, only very recently, is a platform to sell and talk about this tripe. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to have a good childhood where I could play with Pog’s, N64, and watch 90s Nickelodeon cartoons like Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show, but it’s not a subject I want to spill into contemporary music. Half Way There is a blast from the past in every sense of the word. Its pop-punk sensibilities exploit the continuing trend with the genre, and because of its relevance, it means the band don’t have to resort to selling their old sound down the river in favour of auto-tune, arbitrary guest spots, and trap beats in order to shift a couple of units. Inoffensive, cookie-cutter tunes like “Nostalgia”, “Reunion” and “Nineties” sound like sonic time capsules with nostalgic themes, and in all honesty, it’s done pretty well. These are child-friendly songs that talk about how great the band’s childhood was; reaching for their dreams; and getting that girl. Yeah, it’s not something that will appeal to an older demographic, but from a technical level these songs are well sung, and are concisely written from the “How To Pop-Punk For Dummies” guide. To the album’s credit, it kept someone as cynical and bitter as me through to the end without cursing at it for being obnoxious, and that says a little bit about the talent handling this record.
FORMAT//EDITIONS: DIGITAL/̶/̶C̶D̶/̶/̶V̶I̶N̶Y̶L̶
PACKAGING: N/A
SPECIAL EDITION: N/A
ALBUM STREAM//PURCHASE: https://busted.tmstor.es/index.php?page=products&menu=Half+Way+There
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Nice review. I feel like even the people who were youngers buying the first Busted record back in the day knew it wasn’t very good. They haven’t missed a beat with this one.
Surprised to see Charlie came back though.
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Better than Brand New, Jimmy Eat World and what have you.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Obligatory comment about how Fightstar are way better, and Charlie needs to do more Fightstar stuff.
But yeah, probably won’t listen to this. Never really been a fan, but I’m sure it’s at least better than that song they did for that dogshit Thunderbirds movie.
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whoaaaaa we're half way there
WHOOOAAA OHHHH
lincoln on a bear
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"Ren & Stimpy" Now you won me there.
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Sooo Charlie decided to bring back Busted?
....Why? He already brought back Fightstar who are musically leagues above Busted. I hope he aint retiring Fightstar again now because of this.
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Nice review, everyone seems to forget night driver came out not so long ago so it's not really a return?
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I believe that Fightstar is still around, but Charlie's focusing on Busted for now.
But yeah, I'd never thought I'd see the day when a Busted album is heavier than a Bring Me The Horizon album.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
This is actually pretty good
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Album actually good, huh
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
well, it's not bad
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it started to go downhill at the end, its okay, better than expected
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I'm kind of tempted to listen now to see what it's like, but I don't want Busted to end up as one of my artists on Spotify or have them constantly come up in my suggested videos on YouTube (which has happened in the past previous times I've checked out artists due to curiosity). Any ways around this?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Ehh? Last 4 songs are some of the best
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I am a big Busted fan, have been since their first incarnation during my childhood.
I disagree with this review, I think it’s a good album well produced by a producer that’s more than worth his salt in Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen et al.). It’s an album that showcases what Busted were always meant to be, a decent British pop-punk band.
The first time round they were young boys being pushed and suppressed by their label, that and not being recognised as artists who write/record/produce their own work, contributed to their demise. Since then, I feel they have all had success and Charlie has more than proved himself as a capable musician, gaining top 20 albums across multiple genres (Fightstar, solo-works).
Busted actually returned with a more experimental album Night Driver in 2016 which I feel was also very well produced. ‘Half Way There’ sees them return to who they really are as a band and is actually musically better than they’ve ever been.
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Lmao the only thing I know from these guys is that song the Jonas Brothers covered in like 2006.
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People who are commenting about fightstar, you do know Busted are better and bring in more money, right? Believe it or not fightstar wasn't exactly popular like Busted.
I do disagree with this review though. The band are back, and now better.
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Im not surprised that someone thinks that Busted were better than Fightstar would be the same type of person who would use popularity and money as reasons to why something is good.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
"People who are commenting about fightstar, you do know Busted are better and bring in more money, right? Believe it or not fightstar wasn't exactly popular like Busted."
Oh, so you believe the popularity of an artist is reflective of the quality of the music they make? Please explain how All The Right Reasons by Nickelback (which was certified Diamond in the US and sold 10,000,000 copies) is a good album.
By your logic, Asking Alexandria and Falling In Reverse are better than Touche Amore and Departures simply because more people know who they are. Just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Fortnite is popular, Minions are popular, Love Island is popular. Please explain how those examples are good.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Decided to relent and give this a listen.
Better than expected, but still pretty average fare. With the talk that Charlie's been writing some Fightstar material recently, I'm hoping that next year, Busted will take a break to allow him to focus on that.
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