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Title: Carrabba's Curse: His Fans
Review: The thing about the reviews that precede and follow this is that the majority of them are written by rabid Dashboard Confessional fans, and I realize that combining "rabid" with "Dashboard fan" is an exercise in redundancy. First things first: This is not a change. This isn't Dylan in 1965 at the Folk Festival. Carraba's style hasn't gone hip-hop or pop or post-rock. This is still pop-punk. If you like Vagrant bands, odds are you'll like this.In the context of pop music as a whole, this will be a smash because it's great pop album. It has all the earmarks of overdramatic, pimply-teen mall muzak. This is not rock 'n' roll. It's not meant to be (and therefore should not be knocked on the basis that it doesn't rock). It's not a sell-out record, either. Carraba is taking this in the direction he feels most comfortable with, it's just a shame that he's an underdeveloped (especially musically) Elliott Smith.
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