Living Well Is the Best Revenge

Living Well Is the Best Revenge is the second studio album and major-label debut by American pop punk band Midtown and was released on Drive-Thru and MCA Records on April 16, 2002. The phrase goes back to the 17th-century English poet George Herbert.

Living Well Is the Best Revenge
Studio album by
Midtown
ReleasedApril 16, 2002
StudioLarrabee East, Los Angeles, California; Media Vortex, Burbank, California
GenrePop punk, punk rock
Length37:53
LabelDrive-Thru, MCA
ProducerMark Trombino
Midtown chronology
Save the World, Lose the Girl
(2000)		 Living Well Is the Best Revenge
(2002)		 Forget What You Know
(2004)

Recording and composition

Recording took place at Larrabee East in Los Angeles, California and Media Vortex in Burbank, California. Sessions were produced by Mark Trombino, and engineered by Trombino and Justin Smith. They were assisted by engineers Pete Novak and Dave Ahlert. Trombino mixed the recordings at Extasy South in Los Angeles. Brian Gardner mastered the recordings at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California with assistance from Mike Bozzi. Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife added additional backing vocals to "Find Comfort in Yourself".[1]

Vocalist/bassist Gabe Saporta said "Become What You Hate" is about the various types of people who compromise their own personal beliefs for success and "liberating yourself from those people".[2]

Release

On February 19, 2002, "Become What You Hate" was made available for streaming through the group's website.[3] On March 24, "A Faulty Foundation" was posted online.[4] In April and May, the group supported Face to Face on their headlining US tour.[5] Living Well Is the Best Revenge was released on April 16[3] through MCA Records.[1] Because of the relationship Drive-Thru had with MCA, the smaller label's most successful artists, including Midtown, were "upstreamed" to the major label. Best Buy sold the album at a reduced cost alongside albums by Jimmy Eat World and Fenix Tx.[6] On May 31, the band released a music video for "Like a Movie" on their website.[7] In August, the group performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK.[8]

In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour, titled the Best Revenge Tour. They were supported by Recover and Taking Back Sunday.[9] However, partway through the tour Taking Back Sunday were forced to drop off[10] and were replaced by The Reunion Show.[11] In April, the group performed at Skate and Surf Fest.[12] Between early July and early September, the group supported Reggie and the Full Effect on their headlining US tour.[13]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[14]
Kerrang!Unfavorable[15]
Melodic [16]
PopMattersFavorable[17]
Punknews.org[18]
Slant Magazine[19]

Living Well Is the Best Revenge charted at number 90 on the Billboard 200.[20] It has appeared on a best-of emo album list by Loudwire.[21]

Track listing

All music written by Midtown. All lyrics written by Gabe Saporta, except "Perfect" and "Find Comfort in Yourself" by Hearth Saraceno, and "One Last Time" by Tyler Rann.[1]

  1. "Become What You Hate" – 2:50
  2. "Still Trying" – 2:58
  3. "Get It Together" – 3:28
  4. "Like a Movie" – 3:32
  5. "There's No Going Back" – 3:10
  6. "Perfect" – 3:40
  7. "You Should Know" – 2:39
  8. "One Last Time" – 3:29
  9. "A Faulty Foundation" – 2:43
  10. "In the Songs" – 3:33
  11. "Find Comfort in Yourself" – 2:41

Bonus tracks

  1. "Make This Right" – 3:05
  2. "Let Go (Remix)"

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.[1]

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References

Citations

  1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge (Booklet). Midtown. Drive-Thru/MCA Records. 2002. 112 886-2.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Heisel, Scott (March 24, 2002). "Midtown featured in Seventeen Magazine". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  3. Heisel, Scott (February 19, 2002). "New Midtown Song Available for Streaming". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  4. Heisel, Scott (March 24, 2002). "EXCLUSIVE: Midtown". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on 2016-07-17. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  5. DuFour, Matt (March 19, 2002). "Face To Face Ruin Everything". The Fader. Andy Cohn. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  6. Heisel, Scott (April 16, 2002). "Best Buy to sell new Midtown album at reduced price". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  7. Heisel, Scott (May 31, 2002). "Midtown completes video". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  8. Heisel, Scott (May 17, 2002). "Midtown to play Reading/Leeds Festivals [and UCLA for free!]". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  9. Heisel, Scott (August 23, 2002). "Midtown heads on "Best Revenge" Tour". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on 2016-07-17. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  10. Heisel, Scott (September 16, 2002). "Taking Back Sunday singer injured; band pulls off Midtown tour". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  11. Heisel, Scott (September 17, 2002). "Taking Back Sunday care package/The Reunion Show to fill spot on Midtown tour". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  12. Heisel, Scott (April 3, 2003). "Finalized Skate and Surf Fest lineup announced". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  13. White, Adam (May 11, 2003). "Reggie & The Full Effect Summer Dates". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  14. Allmusic review
  15. Travers, Paul (April 2002). "New Releases & Reviews". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on June 7, 2002. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  16. Wippsson, Johan (July 2, 2007). "Midtown - Living Well Is the Best Revenge". Melodic. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  17. Damas, Jason (September 24, 2002). "Midtown: Living Well Is the Best Revenge". PopMatters. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  18. "Punknews.org review". Archived from the original on 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  19. Scott, Aaron (April 17, 2002). "Review: Midtown, Living Well Is the Best Revenge". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  20. White, Adam (April 25, 2002). "Midtown reaches #90 on Billboard". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  21. Waldman, Scott (February 26, 2020). "The Best Emo Albums From 1999-2008: A Discussion". Loudwire. Retrieved August 17, 2020.

Sources

  • Billboard (September 11, 1999). "Newsline..." Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 111 (37). ISSN 0006-2510.
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