Track Listing

1. Don't Wait
2. Reason To Believe
3. Secret's In The Telling
4. Stolen
5. Rooftops And Invitations
6. So Long So Long
7. Currents
8. Slow Decay
9. Dusk And Summer
10. Heaven Here
11. Vindicated

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67506 in Music
• Released on: 2006-07-03
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
While usually lumped in with the sensitive souls of emotional hardcore, Dashboard Confessional – the stage name of Conneticut-born singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba – has traditionally cut a much more intimate, acoustic-tinged furrow. Dusk And Summer, however, sees Carrabba spirit up a much denser, rockier instrumentation that should see long-term fans harking back to his '90s outfit, Further Seems Forever. Is Chris risking it all, leaving his own introspective headspace and traipsing back to the crowded landscape of US rock? Not necessarily – 'Rooftops And Invitations' makes a decent fist of melding a balladry of passion and restraint with some pluming, U2-style dynamics, while 'Don't Wait' proves that the acoustic guitar still lies at the centre of the Dashboard design. Fans should also cock an ear to 'So Long So Long', a hushed piano duet with Adam Duritz of Counting Crows with a lyric that plays to their collective talent for misty-eyed nostalgia: "How the girls can turn to ghosts before your eyes/ And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying". Newcomers might want to start elsewhere - Dusk And Summer is far from representative of their style – but if each Dashboard album is a page in Carrabba's own personal journal, it's clear there's still many pages to be written. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
Latter-day troubadour Chris Carrabba follows up 2003's 'A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar' with this, his fourth album asDashboard Confessional. Produced by Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) and Don Gilmore (Good Charlotte, Linkin Park), it continues his style of wrought, emotional lyrics set to radio-friendly, punk-inflected acoustic rock. On this album the piano features more prominently than before and some songs havebeen compared to Carrabba's former band Further Seems Forever.

Customer Reviews

Good for playing all summer until way after dusk
If you like music by groups like Keane, Coldplay and Hoobastank, and pop/rock ballads send you into seventh heaven, you'll love this Dashboard Confessional album. For the record, Dashboard Confessional isn't really a group, but a singer-songwriter with the cool porn-star-sounding name of Chris Carrabba, backed by three other guys on guitar, bass and drums. I'll admit to being a newbie to the D.C. (as Dashboard Confessional will from here on be referred in this review) fan club, but in fact Carrabba has been performing under the name since 1999.

First single "Don't Wait" opens with a riff reminiscent of the "Sixpence None The Richer" hit song "Kiss Me", and has been repeat-playing on my computer all morning. When I finally decided to move along, I discovered that the other songs were equally good, and after kicking myself (mentally that is - doing this physically requires some athletic skill, and besides, it hurts) I have now decided that this is one of the best albums I've heard in a while.

You have to experience the guitar intro to "Reason to Believe" which leads into the angst-ridden vocals by Carrabba, as he wails "Oh sweet lungs don't fail me now / Your burning has turned into fear". Then he calms down a little with "The Secret's in the Telling" (another favorite of mine), the slightly breathless "Stolen", and the acoustic guitar of "Rooftops and Invitations."

All this serves as a lead in to THE best track of all, "So Long, So Long" the duet with Adam Duritz, which caused another repeat-play interlude, and delayed my progress to the end of the album, which is sadly only ten songs long. The other four songs "Currents" (a must for Coldplay fans, with the soaring intro and chorus), "Slow Decay", "Dusk and Summer" and "Heaven Here" are all well written tracks. "Dusk and Summer" goes a little James Blunt on the chorus, with Carrabba trying his voice on falsetto, but it sure works on this title track.

Regardless if you (or someone you care enough to buy a gift for) is into rock, pop, emo, alternative, or any combination of these types of music, this album's a winner all the way. Good for playing all summer until way after dusk


Amanda Richards

I want to poke my eyes out...
Firstly, if you're thinking about buying this - don't. I'd be the first one to say buy everything dashboard has ever done, but this album is such a disappointment. I waited SO long for it, I saved my hard-earned cash, and for what? A load of rubbish. I've loved Chris for years, and it's safe to say, I'm immensely disappointed. What is he playing at? It's like he can't be bothered anymore. It's like he's been lazy and then just covered it up with a big fat band - they ruin it. Bring back the day of just chris and his guitar, that's what I say. It's nothing like they used to make, and personally I don't like it. It isn't dashboard. There are only 3 good songs on this album at a push, and 2 of them I had already, 1 of those being a better version than the one on the album! Track 9, dusk and summer, is the only trace that's left of the old dashboard. I'm all for bands developing and improving, but... they haven't. Chris has let me down, big style. Their last album, A Mark A Mission... wasn't held very highly in my opinion, but this beats it, 'hands down' (hehe). I'm warning you all, and I know for a fact it's not even going to grow on me, so i am now officially sulking.

A welcome return
As a long-time fan of Dashboard Confessional I have been desperate to hear their new material. I knew they had a lot to live up to - their previous albums have never left my stereo for a couple of years. Don't Wait is the lead single and after the first listen is by far the stand out track howver there is a lot of other good songs on this album.

Don't be put off by the fact that there are only the ten tracks - the album still clocks almost 50 minutes - if you've got the Vindicated hidden track on your disc.

If you liked their previous work you will enjoy this, however if you are a new to Dashboard Confessional try the older stuff first - it will definitely be worth it.

On the whole as a D/C fan this is a must-have. Not their best work but better than 95% of the other bands you will find trying this sort of thing.