In the months before this record was released, I had a strange feeling that it was going to be special. I don't know what it was, maybe the vague descriptions on the Lawrence Arm's homepage, or possibly the phenomenal "Presenting the Dancing Machine" from the Fat Music Volume 6 comp. Something told me that this album was going to totally blow everything else released in 2003 right out of the water. The first press review I read for this album promised to be true.

"This is the record you always hope your buying, but never get"

No joke.

"The Greatest Story Ever Told" is far and away the best record the Lawrence Arms, or any other Brendan Kelly fronted band for that matter, has ever released. From begining to end, this record is a modern classic. I had the good fortune to buy a copy four days before it was released in stores (as I happened to come across the new shipment as the employee at a local record store was processing them) and I haven't stopped listening to it since. In a time when punk rock is becoming increasingly homogenous and repetative, the Lawrence Arms have given us something truely original and different. A breath of fresh air.

The Lawrence Arms utilize the two-frontman sound that has become increasingly popular in punk rock over the last several years, but not since Joe Strummer and Mick Jones has a punk duo shined so brightly (the Lawrence Arms aren't on par with the Clash by any means). Bassist Brendan Kelly and guitarist Chris McCaughan have two drastically different voices and deliveries, but both are masters of weaving drunken tales of dispair into almost beautiful poetry. Lyrically, there is no better duo in punk rock today, although one could argue a strong case for their Chicago cohorts in the Alkaline Trio. Kelly and McCaughan compliment each other beautifully on this record, which is remarkable when you compare Kelly's scathing, abraisive delivery to McCaughn's near-soothing, whispy flows. Both singers are at the top of their game on this record, and compliment each other further by lending stunning backing vocals to each other's songs.

Musically, this record mops the floor with previous Lawrence Arms recordings. Most punk bands with one guitarist will typically record a second guitar track to fill out their sound, but McCaughan records as many as three, four, five or maybe more on some of these songs, adding glassy open chords and sonically glorious leads over the typical power chord delivery. Kelly's bass playing is as solid as ever, with numerous melodic lines cutting through the wall of guitars throughout the record. Drummer Neil Hennessy provides a solid backbone for the song with his usual thundering percussives, and shines through on his own during the intro for the aptly titled "March of the Elephants".

Obscure references to pop-culture, literature, history and otherwise abound throughout the record, with song titles and lyrics aluding to various authors, poets and writings. While some may consider this plagarism, I'd call it a genius approach to song writing that few have ever dared to explore. The mix of obscure citations and the Lawrence Arm's typical drunken poetry makes for a lyrically tantilizing record that no one has come close to equalling in recent history.

There isn't a bad song on this record. Every song is fantastic, and most of them stand up with the Lawrence Arm's finest ever. "Chapter 13: The Hero Appears" is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of all time, and is easily Chris McCaughan's finest work yet. "Alert the Audience!" and "March of the Elephants" are better than any of Brendan Kelly's songs from "Apathy & Exhaustion". "Drunk Mouth Kitchen Smile" and "The Revisionist" are beautiful at the least, and "The Disaster March" stands among the veteran Kelly's best songs ever. Every song is fantastic. This record is obviously a must for Broadways and Slapstick fans, but it's likely that fans of Jawbreaker, Alkaline Trio and The Weakerthans among others would enjoy this record just as much as the veteran Larry Arms fans do. 2003 was a year overflowing with releases from some of recent history's most popular and best punk bands, but not even NOFX, Rancid or Pennywise among dozens upon dozens of others could come anywhere close to releasing anything of this caliber. Simply put, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is one of the best albums in recent punk rock history, and is an essential addition to the collection of any fan of modern day punk rock, pop-punk, emo or any related genre. This is a phenomenal effort that deserves more recognition. Order it now.

Cheers.

This album surpassed my expectations of what Lawrence Arms could be, now Chris is a full fledged member of the band and he's getting just as many songs as Brendan and it works with great. The album has a grand theme and it seems like a book rather than an album. the songs are awesome and Brendan is even more aggrsssive in this album. He has like one minute blast songs while Chris has like 4 minute songs that are very mellow. This was probably the best album of 2003 in my opinion.

Ok, so I got this 3 days ago, but it hasn't left my cd player since. Up to now, my favorite pop-emo album of 2003 was Good Mourning by Alkaline Trio, but this one is like ear yoga. I haven't felt this relaxed in a while. The polar vocalists keep you going from track to track. When they are together, you actually feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I've been listening to Fireflies for the last hour straight on repeat. Yes, the only flaw is its kinda of repetitive, maybe more songs like On With The Show would have broken it up, but it all blends togehter really well. Sort of like a live album does, it just flows toghether and works well. But, each song is carrying a completely different message, so vocally its quite different. And I'm particularly fond of the circus theme. Pick this up now!

like my title says, I think this album is underrated. I love this record, one of my favorites, I don't think I skip a track when I listen to it. The lawrence arms are one of the greatest bands ever. Peroid. Yeah it's their slowest and blah blah blah, f*ck you, this album rules.

This is truly an amazing CD...if you like The Weakerthans lyrics with hard raspy lyrics (and soft lyrics) buy this!!

The best songs are "Fireflies" and "The Ramblin Boys Of Pleasure"

DO NOT burn this CD! The art work in the CD cover is absouloutely phenomonel (excuse spelling) and makes the CD twice as good

Definity their best to date