When I first started hearing this word Emo bandied about as a description of a genre of music one of the main bands that it was used to categorize was the Get Up Kids. Curious, I started listening to the Kids and was immediately struck by their similarity to the Replacements. A band that deserves a lot of credit for pioneering the kind of music thatÕs becoming so popular and also a band that was difficult to categorize - falling however uncomfortably into a genre of music that was generally referred to at the time as Power-Pop.

The Kids are a great band and their last album On A Wire was a solid record that found a respectable spot on my Best-of list of 2002. All of which brings me to the record I'm reviewing. The New Amsterdams were created as a side project for Get Up Kids prime mover Matthew Prior as another outlet for this incredibly prolific songwriter's even more sensitive material. Stripped down, ultra-Emo, the New Amsterdams, may necessitate the creation of another genre name. On Worse For The Wear (their third) Pryor proves that he is one of the most gifted songwriters we have. (I wouldnÕt hesitate to place him along side Ryan Adams.) This collection of sparely produced, beautifully simple and melodic tunes is one of the year's true gems. There isn't a throwaway track on this record it just keeps coming at you with one lyrically impressive, tuneful song after another. A record that reminds me a lot of last year's masterpiece Wood Water from the Promise Ring. My only complaint about this record is that it only has nine songs and my only complaint with the New Amsterdams is that it limits how often we get new releases from the Get Up Kids.