Where You Want to Be

Disc 1
1	Set Phasers to Stun 3:03
2	Bonus Mosh, Pt. 2 3:06
3	A Decade Under the Influence 4:07
4	This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) 4:11
5	The Union 2:50
6	New American Classic 4:35
7	I Am Fred Astaire 3:43
8	One-Eighty by Summer 3:53
9	Number Five With a Bullet 3:49
10	Little Devotional 3:07
11	...Slowdance on the Inside 6:58
Disc 2
1	Ohio Is for Lovers / Hawthorne Heights Multimedia Track 4:04
2	Smashed into Pieces / Silverstein Multimedia Track 3:44
3	Right Side of the Bed / Atreyu Multimedia Track 3:44
4	Masterpiece / Bayside Multimedia Track 3:46
5	Drug Like / Action Action 7:27

All Music Guide

Where You Want to Be builds on the hardcore-power-meets-pop-skills of Taking Back Sunday's debut, Tell All Your Friends, and reveals the group to be, in many ways, a quintessential latter-day emo band. Not because they're redefining the style's sound, but because their music is defined by so many of emo's nearly cliché tendencies. A gerund-led band name? Check. Cryptically bittersweet titles like "Little Devotional"? Present and accounted for. Shouty, anthemic vocals, string-driven ballads like "New American Classic," and wordy, confessional lyrics ("Give me a chance? Whatever...you're so hit or miss, and that's so '93") are all in place as well. However, while Where You Want to Be might be more than a little (stereo)typical, it's not embarrassing; songs like "A Decade Under the Influence," "One Eighty by Summer," and "Number Five With a Bullet" do have some real impact, and show some songwriting growth since Tell All Your Friends. But since the band doesn't take the occasionally cringe-worthy risks of some of their emo brethren, Taking Back Sunday sometimes comes off as less than distinctive, and the album can sound like a generic soundtrack to generic teenage angst; even though it's a nearly universal subject, it should never sound routine. Where You Want to Be is definitely a solid album -- especially considering that it was recorded so soon after half the band was replaced -- but crafting something a little more unique would take Taking Back Sunday's music that much farther. [Where You Want to Be was released with a bonus CD of songs and videos from like-minded Victory Records artists, including Hawthorne Heights, Bayside, Action Action, and Silverstein.] Heather Phares

New York Times

Song after ringing song whiplashes between recrimination and self-criticism as the guitars elevate whines to anthems and make squabbles sound like triumphs. Jon Pareles

Entertainment Weekly

The driving first single, "A Decade Under the Influence," will have jaded romantics swooning -- in the mosh pit. (B+) Sean Richardson