Hide Nothing gets a lot of crap. And true, I only bought it as a packaged deal with the other two Further Seems Forever. But listening to it again has reminded me of when I was a senior in high school trying to convince my friends that this album actually was worth the time.

Yes, Light Up Ahead had a TERRIBLE video. But it’s still a great song. And true, Jon Bunch* doesn’t have the vocal prowess of either of his predecessors–nothing shows that more than the live version of The Moon is Down on The Final Curtain, where he wisely relies on the crowd to carry the higher parts.

But that doesn’t mean that he’s any less emotive than either Chris’s jealous longing or Jason’s violin-voiced pleas. Nowhere is this any more more apparent than the two part Make It a Part/All Rise centerpiece (sadly divided on the vinyl), where he croons softly through some of the band’s best guitar lines before bursting into a heavy chorus begging the listener to embrace forgiveness and love and their own worth.

And such is Jon’s Further Seems Forever: Chris was jilted and hurt, Jason sought God’s help through his struggles, but Jon wanted to lift us up. You could deride it as self-help rock if you want, but it works.

And he has no one to thank for that but Further Seems Forever, the band, who are in top form here. Guitars wind around eachother like snakes in love, the drums pound along with the shifting sections just as closely as ever, and Chad Neptune bounces every bassline he plays. Seriously. Why does no one talk about what a great bassist Chad Neptune was?**

While everyone talks about Chris and Jason and Jon, the frontmen were only worth anything because they were fronting one of the most exciting, dynamic emo bands of all time. Better than Thursday, better than Brand New, better than The Juliana Theory. I’d even say they were as good as Sunny Day Real Estate. And I’ll fight anyone who disagrees. Further Seems Forever was able to put out three great albums with wildly different lead vocalists because Further Seems Forever, the instrumentalists, were*** one of the greatest bands to plug in their distortion pedals and play.

*I confess, I’ve never listened to Sense Field at all, but I don’t think that really matters here.

** “Oh but Further Seems Forever is back together and Chad is still with them!” Yeah, but did you listen to Penny Black? There were zero bass lines worth his time on that record. Everything was eight count root notes. BOR-ING.

***“Further Seems Forever is back together! With Chris!” No, the people who played in Further Seems Forever, including Chris, are back together, and they released an album under that name. They sound more like a Taking Back Sunday tribute band than Further Seems Forever.