Taking One for the Team is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Simple Plan. It was released on February 19, 2016 through Atlantic Records and represents the band’s first full-length record in nearly five years. Following the release of three buzz singles in mid-2015, the band released “I Don’t Wanna Go to Bed” featuring American rapper Nelly as the official lead single for the album on October 16, 2015. It debuted at number 4 on the Canadian Albums Chart, earning the band their fourth consecutive top-5 and a perfect streak of top-10s for their first five studio albums.
“I Don’t Wanna Go to Bed” was released October 16, 2015 as the album’s official lead single. The song features pop and funk influences in a stylistic departure from the pop punk and pop rock of the group is earlier work. A Baywatch-inspired music video premiered October 15, 2015 – a day before the song is digital release It has since peaked outside the top 50 on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 54.
“Singing in the Rain” was released as second single from the album on March 25, 2016. However, the single version of the song does not feature R. City. The music video for “Singing in the Rain was released on April 12, 2016; set in the 1960s, it was a tribute to the movie That Thing You Do.
“Perfectly Perfect” was announced as the third official single on September 26, 2016.
The first song released from the era was “Saturday” on June 22, 2015.[14] In September 2015, drummer Chuck Comeau revealed the song would not be featured on the album.
“Boom” was released August 28, 2015 as the second promotional single after its music video premiered a day earlier.
A third buzz track, “I Don’t Wanna Be Sad”, was released September 18, 2015.[18] Initially presumed to be the album’s first official single, it was later announced to be a promotional track only.
The band released the album tracks steadily leading up to the release date. A music video for “Opinion Overload” was released on February 5, 2016.”Farewell” was released on February 14, followed by “I Refuse” on February 15, “Nostalgic”, “P.S. I Hate You” and “Perfectly Perfect”.
At the end of the album, Canadian sports announcer Bob Cole calls a fictional ice hockey game featuring Simple Plan, concluding with, “Oh my goodness, can you believe it? Just like that, Simple Plan have won the game!”.
Taking One for the Team received generally favorable reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65 based on 4 reviews, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.
Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic called the record “pure, no-frills, feel-good fun, a start-to-finish crowd-pleaser for fans of that classic pop-punk sound.” He concluded about the band’s musical stance they made with their album: “When music is presented this directly, and after so many years holding firm to a particular style, it’s hard to root against them. They’re aware of their legacy and position as now-veterans in a scene that has already experienced another revival with young bands like Neck Deep and All Time Low. Simple Plan — whose members were in their late thirties at the time of recording — are the comeback underdog team, winning whether critics like it or not.”
A real pretty good high energy power rock album !
Personnel:
Pierre Bouvier (vocals)
Chuck Comeau (drums, vocals)
David Desrosiers (bass, vocals
Sébastien Lefebvre (guitar, vocals)
Jess Stinco (lead guitar, vocals)
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Howard Benson (organ)
R. City (vocals on 05.)
Bob Cole (play-by-play announcer on 14.)
Nelly (vocals on 08.)
Jordan Pundik (vocals on 04.)
Juliet Simms (vocals on 14.)
Lenny Skolnik (keyboards, vocals)
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baackground vocals:
Jonny Litten – Chady Awad – Melanie Fontana – Sidnie Tipton – Myah Langston
Tracklist:
01. Opinion Overload (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/Company) 3.19
02. Boom! ((Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco//Ogren/Bailey) 3.10
03. Kiss Me Like Nobody’s Watching (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco) 3.23
04. Farewell (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco//Ogren/Bailey)3.21
05. Singing In The Rain (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/ Th.Thomas/ T.Thomas) 3.43
06. Everything Sucks (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco) 3.32
07. I Refuse (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco) 3.19
08. I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed Nelly (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/ Baran/Haynes) 3.09
09. Nostalgic (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/Company) 3.06
10. Perfectly Perfect (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/Stewart/Higgenson) 3.07
11. I Don’t Wanna Be Sad (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco) 3.14
12. P.S. I Hate You (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco(Stewart) 3.03
13. Problem Child (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco/Tranter) 3.41
14. I Dream About You (Bouvier/Comeau/Desrosiers/Lefebvre/Stinco) 3.09
ManyFantasticColors 