Track Listing

1. We Are
2. You're a God
3. Everything You Want
4. Best I Ever Had
5. You Say
6. Finding Me
7. Miracle
8. Send It Up
9. Give You Back
10. All of You
11. Shackled

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11294 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
If REM hadn't already blazed the trail years ago, Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want would be a seminal album, with its earnest harmonies, fluid melodies, and jangly guitars. And while Vertical Horizon may not have taken many forks off the road to Athens, they have whipped up an excellent pop-rock meld out of the purloined elements. Beginning with the ardent and anthemic "We Are", the pop band who began life on Georgetown's central campus nearly a decade before this major-label debut was released unleashes a personal diary of loss, love, and angst. The band, led by school chums Matthew Scannell and Keith Kane, find they just can't leave their pedagogical leanings behind. Only this time their investigations are into the mysteries of the human heart rather than Zeno's famous paradoxes. But the real paradox here is how a band so derivative can have made such a credible album. This time familiarity doesn't breed contempt. "You're a God", an edgy lament about putting someone on a pedestal, could have been lifted right out of the Alanis songbook, but it still manages to shimmer on its own merit, as do most of the 11 songs. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews

A powerful, complex array of emotions and angst.
Anyone who bought this album to compliment Vertical Horizon's earlier works must have had quite a shock when they pressed play and found themselves gasping for air as the room was flooded with electric guitars and a driving drum beat. The gentle, folksy sound was gone. The vocal harmonies, emotional heartfelt lyrics and skilful playing, however, were still in abundance.

Matt Scannell's voice is the perfect instrument to communicate the meaning and emotion his songs possess. He sounds like Michael Stipe might sound if he had ever had a voice coach. Vertical Horizon is like REM after a month down the gym; just as clever, just as cynical, but with more muscle!

There is a power behind all of the songs and on the whole the album is an uplifting experience, which is a little odd considering all the bitterness and angst conveyed. But there is this easy familiarity in the emotion that is like listening to your best mate telling you their troubles; you know they are okay deep-down because they can still feel.

Highlights of the album for me are the anthemic "You're a God", the head-shaking "Send it Up" and "Finding Me" with its immediate hook, wonderful self-deprecating lyrics and beautiful groove (can an English boy get away with saying that?!) Just try listening to it without nodding your head or tapping you fingers - you can't do it; it's the musical equivalent of eating a doughnut without licking your lips!

"Everything You Want" is another wonderfully bitter, almost tainted antithesis to a love song. You sense the occasional spray of spit as the storyteller becomes more frustrated, perhaps even angry, and you can feel your head spinning in the angst and confusion. The last song on the album, "Shackled", is a perfect merger of where Vertical Horizon came from and where they clearly intend to go.

Verdict: a must-have album - just see how often you press the 'play' button after listening to it, instead of the 'eject' button.

Superb Album you have to give them a try!!
I first heard a VH song when i was watching a Basketball video on the internet i heard the song "youre a god" which is my favourite song on the album. VH is not in my opinion one of them albums where you buy it for 2 or 3 songs it is a great album and all of the tracks on the album are great. However i am not so keen on Shackled which is the only song that lets it down. The albums songs have great lyrics and especially "your a god" have great sing a long choruses on them. A MUST BUY!!

Best ive ever had... for a while
I went out & bought this for no reason at all really - was sitting on the "recommended music of the week" stand in HMV....Instore listening post wasnt working, so i just bought it... Stuck the CD in the car & found myself driving around town just to listen to more & more of it. Very addictive, one of the few CDs in my collection that got the honour of staying out in the car. Great songs, great lyrics, cant wait until they are playing up in Scotland. Miracle is the best track on the album for me, "Best I ever Had" is a close run second... Its hard to pick one track over another when there is so many good tracks... They put me in mind of some of the good up & coming US bands ive been listening too, lyrically similar to the brilliant Sister Hazel, musicly hard to define, the style I would associate with the type of song you`d hear on the soundtrack to some of the movies on the go - the likes of "10 things i hate about you", "Bring it on", "She's All that" or "Coyote Ugly", even the likes of "i know what you did last summer" and "scream" - these films all seem to be creating a genre of their own.. Soundtracks to them all have similar type music - Definatly one for the future...and one of the few albums that have impressed me from start to finish this year. Certainly no weak tracks.