This Alkaline Trio album was released in 2001, a year after "Maybe I'll Catch Fire," during a fertile period for mainstream punk, with Blink-182, Sum 41, and let's add Green Day to the list, topping the charts. All this was happening in the mainstream spotlight, while simultaneously, albums like this were being released, which, though not heavily publicized and more underground, were simpler in approach and impact, managing to craft a more complete and interesting work than the aforementioned bands.
For some, this marks the definitive rise of the band. Indeed, if not the group's best, this "From Here To Infirmary" is certainly among the top two.
12 pop-punk songs where some tracks are a bit faster and others slower and more melancholic, fully in line with the band's style.
The singles that made the album known are the wonderful "Private Eye" and "Stupid Kids" (a pretty classic and easy-going track). In particular, the former, with its light-dark tones and well-suited mid-tempo, convinces right away, presenting itself as a classic Trio song characterized by the dark/melancholic and cheerful/catchy contrast that emerges in the verse-chorus alternation. Already with this song, a bit of their manifesto, perfectly synthesizing their style and way of playing, one can notice the great differences with more famous and well-known bands like Blink-182, Green Day, and Yellowcard. Even though they make the same type of music as the alkaline ones, they are decidedly more predictable than the Chicago trio, which proves to be much more original and creative both musically and in their songwriting.
"Armageddon" is also very good, where you can appreciate the touch and technique of the excellent (now former) drummer Mike Feumlee, fast and enjoyable and lent for the occasion to the skate video game Tony Hawk, and "Mr. Chainsaw" (literally Mr. Chainsaw) with lyrics about this man going around chopping bodies for no reason; another noteworthy song with very fast rhythms and a high-energy drum. "Bloodied Up" and "Trucks and Trains" are also very convincing, continuing the compositional thread of "Private Eye," both characterized by remarkable tempo changes and good melodies. The same standards can also be found in "Another Innocent Girl," which goes from slow and melancholic to fast and vice versa.
Meanwhile, a drum solo kicks off "Take Lots with Alcohol," characterized by a broken rhythm. The only slight misstep in an otherwise excellent album is "I'm Dying Tomorrow" with its bland rhythms that don't quite convince. Also worth mentioning are the more classic and pop-punk oriented "Steamer Trunk" and the slow tempo of the closing "Crawl," which in arrangement may remind one of the wonderful "Radio."
Ultimately, an album that establishes Alkaline Trio as one of the best bands in the American pop-punk scene and beyond, with "From Here To Infirmary" standing as one of the best pop-punk albums ever produced.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Private Eye (03:30)
I dragged this lake looking for corpses
Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
Pieces of planes and black box recorders
Don't lie
(Don't lie)
And I've been preoccupied with these sick, sick senses
That sense DNA on barbed wire fences
Maybe someday, I'll find me a suspect
That has no alibi
New Year's Eve was as boring as heaven
I watched flies fuck on channel 11
There was no one to kiss, there was nothing to drink
Except some old rotten milk someone left in the sink
And there's no ring, there's no ring, on the phone anymore
There's no reason to call I passed out on the floor
Smoked myself stupid and drank my insides raisin dry
But at the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me
And the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
say I love cops, for anyone but me
Your private eye.
I dragged this lake looking for corpses
Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
Pieces of planes and black box recorders
Don't lie
(Don't lie)
And I've been preoccupied with these sick, sick senses
That sense DNA on barbed wire fences
Maybe someday, I'll find me a suspect
That has no alibi
At the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me
And the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
Say I love cops, for anyone but me
Your private eye
Your private eye
And at the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
You won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me
And the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
Say I love cops, for anyone but me
Your private eye
03 Take Lots With Alcohol (03:13)
Hello...what the hell am I doin' here?
That's a really nice suit,
This is a really comfortable chair.
See, I don't know
If you can help me or not.
'Cause I don't feel sick
I don't feel sick
But the pains in my head
Have almost put me underground.
I don't really care if I am healthy or not.
Just clean my head up, doc
I'll give you anything you want
See, I don't know why I don't fall in love
Well, maybe I know why
And maybe you could make it stop...
We'll cut it up and bury it
And leave it underground.
And I'll take to wishing and fall under
Sleeping safe and sound.
Just give me medicine,
Prescribe me anything.
Just knock me out
And walk me through the door.
Well I have no desire to see
Through my own eyes anymore, anymore, ha, ha, ha.
Hello...what the hell are you doing here?
You made a really strange face,
This is a really uncomfortable air.
I see I'm boring you, maybe I bore myself too.
That's why I need help,
I'm cleaning blood off dusty shelves.
I've been cut up in this room
So many times it might take days.
And those stress cracks in the wood
How nicely they soak up the stains.
Just give me medicine,
Prescribe me anything.
Just knock me out
And walk me through the door.
Well I have no desire to see
Through my own eyes anymore, anymore, ha, ha, ha.
Been telling myself these jokes for so long,
Well so long.
I'm a has-been who is heckled on the stage.
Been telling myself these jokes for so long,
Well so long.
I'm a has-been who is heckled on the stage.
04 Stupid Kid (02:23)
'There are things that used to make me smile
One of them was you for just a little while
You left me for dead so far away
I replaced you with fear and shame
You'll be happy on the day I die
There are things that used to make me laugh
But now they're deeply buried in the past
I left them there so far away
Replaced my humor with my pain
I'll be happy on the day it dies
Remember when I said I love you
Well forget it I take it back
I was just a stupid kid back then
I take back every word that I said
There are things that used to make you cry
One of them was me for just a little while
Why is it that you had to say
Goodbye in your special way
You slashed the tires on my car
Remember when I said I love you
Well forget it I take it back
I was just a stupid kid back then
I take back every word that I said
Remember when I said I love you
Well forget it I take it back
I was just a stupid kid back then
I take back every word that I said'
05 Another Innocent Girl (03:37)
He likes to act like he's all grown up
He wanted to grow up to be an actor
But he never told anybody
He likes to spill all of his guts
On the top of a well stocked bar
And then swallow them bit by bit remembering every scar
It's a valid reason for every drink
And a new tattoo is a new reason to think
He likes to pretend that he's all sewn up
It makes for a much stronger case
But there is blood underneath that skin
That scar is not so easy to erase
He walks with a glass cane now
He's careful when holding his body up straight
Can't go outside anymore when it's raining
Can't smash up that beautiful face
Another innocent girl just made his list
That self pity shit is just too hard too resist
Yeah when we get home you'll see
that this part of him is now part of me
He likes to act like he's all grown up
He wanted to grow up to be an actor
But he never told anybody
He likes to spill all of his guts
On the top of a well stocked bar
And then swallow them bit by bit remembering every scar
It's a valid reason for stronger drink
And a new tattoo is a new reason to think
Yeah when we get home you'll see
that this part of him is now part of me
And its way too easy to fake this smile lead you on
Maybe I'm wrong but everyone gets bored once in awhile
06 Steamer Trunk (02:50)
Why you turned out the way you did
That thunderstorm is still crashing in
your cranium
Find that all these funny faces look the same
I know who's to blame
But I swore I wouldn't say
Its time that I got moving on
As you're still burning the dress you wore to
senior prom - Try to forget how you've been touched
I loved you so I told you
But it didn't matter much
And I'm trying to figure out
What you're all about these days
I don't have much to say to you
And I've been drunker than a skunk
Ever since the day I left you
With your darkest secret safely packed away
Up in my steamer trunk
Why I turned out the way I did
Someone somewhere dropped me on my cranium
I'm sorry can you repeat what you just said
My short term memory is gone
But my long term's far from dead
I've been swearing like a sailor
Ever since the day I left her
07 You're Dead (03:50)
What the hell is your name
And can you explain this mess
It seems you're playing a game
Where you only know how to take out the best
Cause if assholes could fly
This place would be busier than O'Hare
There's proof in the sky
It's as thick as our skulls yet it's thinner than air
I have something to say
If the chip off your shoulder should fall to your chest
Get it off right away
Cause if you don't then it won't be in peace that you rest
It's just a matter of time
That we all go away to a better place I'm told
It all sounds well and fine
But without you around I feel nothing but cold
And I now have nothing
But your heartbeat in my head
And a photograph of my traveling friend
What the hell is your name
And can you explain this mess
It seems you're playing a game
Where you only know how to take out the best
Cause if assholes could fly
This place would be busier than O'Hare
There's proof in the sky
It's as thin as our skulls yet it's thicker than air
And I now have nothing
But your heartbeat in my head
And a photograph of my traveling friend
And I became nothing when I found you were dead
When I found out I'd never see you again
And all the time they took talking in circles
To get them off the hook would take miracle workers
We're nowhere near prepared there's
no way of knowing
Why don't they just admit they're scared
Cause its already showing
And I now have nothing
But your heartbeat in my head
And a photograph of my traveling friend
And I became nothing when I found you were dead
When I found out I'd never see you again
08 Armageddon (02:49)
I wrote the words to this song on the back of a photograph
Behind your back it goes
A little something like this is way to big to miss
I got a letter in the mail
The sender failed to let me know where
it came from
Opened it up and sure enough there we were
arm in arm again
I know it's small but my last calls been called a half an hour ago
I don't sleep but do you think it could be fiction for me
Then I'll go I'll go alone I swear
I won't tell a soul
I'll drink this beer and write in fear of a song everybody hates
Armageddon, let the light in
Before we say goodbye give us something to believe in
Armageddon, we're not begging
For too much I don't think
Just need a goodbye kiss (one last salute)
Before we sink
I wrote the words to this song on the back of a photograph
Behind your back it goes
A little something like this is way to big to miss
I got a letter in the mail
The sender failed to let me know where
it came from
Opened it up and sure enough there we were
arm in arm again
Armageddon, let the light in
Before we say goodbye give us something to believe in
Armageddon, we're not begging
For too much I don't think
Just need a goodbye kiss (one last salute)
Before we sink
We sink
We sink
We sink
We sink
We sink
Armageddon, let the light in
Before we say goodbye give us something to believe in
Armageddon, we're not begging
For too much I don't think
Just need a goodbye kiss (one last salute)
Before we sink
09 I'm Dying Tomorrow (02:18)
i'm dying tomorrow
in this house, this street, chicago
i'm dying tomorrow
did i did i
do it right
did i remember to sleep in
take lots of pills
commit irreversible sins
did i did i
at least try
to kiss the prettiest girl
at the right time
did i remember to keep your beer as full as mine
did i did i
remember to say cheers
did i did i
at least try
to make sure everybody had a good time
had the best time
i'm dying tomorrow
in this house, this street, chicago
i'm dying tomorrow
did i did i
do it right
did i remember to stay up late
drinking for the fun
singing for the taste
did i did i
run outside
to kiss the rain under electrical skys
did i remember to keep your beer as full as mine
did i did i
remember to say cheers
did i did i
at least try to make sure everybody had a good time
had the best time
i'm dying tomorrow
in this house, on this street, chicago
i'm dying tomorrow
did i did i
do it right?
10 Bloodied Up (02:51)
You don't say much of anything
When questioned of your whereabouts
And I just can't see through the evidence
It's evident
It's right in front of me in black and white and red
And I don't believe in much of anything
I'm glad I have people I call friends
If it was up to me I'd never have to miss you
It's for the better in the bitter end I guess you'd know the best
You have every right to be
This appalled with me
Join the club
I signed up a long time ago and I know how you feel
And when you decked me
You left me knocked out on the floor
I came to bloodied up, but you weren't around
I picked my teeth off the ground like they'd been there before
12 Crawl (04:25)
Waking up zeroed in on medicine
Am I waking up at all today
Seeing lights, feeling pain
There's my cure on ice
I can walk but I will crawl there
I will crawl there
Sitting straight, feeling faint
An exhausted smile screens my words
But I will hear them
Here's a phrase that we all know
But I can't make sense
I don't know words but I will hear them
I still hear them
Never ran away for the sake of scars
Tried not to move but she was armed
And shots were fired
Now a hole in the head of this wounded liar
Never had a drink that I didn't like
Got a taste of you, threw up all night
I got more sick
With every sour second rate kiss
Everything I never would miss again
Waking up zeroed in on medicine
Am I waking up at all today
Seeing lights, feeling pain
There's my cure on ice
I can walk but I will crawl there
I will crawl there
Never ran away for the sake of scars
Tried not to move but she was armed
And shots were fired
Now a hole in the head of this wounded liar
Never had a drink that I didn't like
Got a taste of you, threw up all night
I got more sick
With every sour second rate kiss
Everything I never would miss again
I don't know who your boyfriend is(5x)
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