The album "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects, released in 2005, is one that you should not overlook. A sophomore album, it is punctuated with upbeat songs balanced by less upbeat songs. It both starts strong and ends strong, beginning with the upbeat "Dirty Little Secret", the most successful single from the album. It ends with "Can't Take It", a closing song that adds much-needed variety to the album.

This album features several catchy, upbeat songs, such as "Dirty Little Secret", "Stab My Back", "Move Along", "Change Your Mind", and "I'm Waiting". These songs all have an excellent catchy quality - you can't help but sing them in the car and hum them all day long. They feature strong vocals and guitar tunes, though one complaint of mine would be that many of the guitar and drum portions of these upbeat pieces sound extremely similar between songs. Looking at a future album, I would like to see more variety in the use of instruments: either greatly varying the drums and guitar portions to reduce the similarity between the sounds of the upbeat songs, or feature more instruments. Another flaw with these catchy songs in "Move Along" is that their lyrics are almost too optimistic and upbeat to be relatable. Overall, I find myself much more able to relate to the less upbeat songs in this album than the especially upbeat ones. On a positive note about the lyrics, these songs show off a unique aspect of music by the All-American Rejects that I noticed in this album: strong, memorable choruses. Contrary to many artists' songs, the choruses of these songs are often the most exciting and memorable parts of the piece, keeping the listener interested throughout the entire song.

This album also featured songs that were less upbeat than the previously described songs, such as "It Ends Tonight", "Can't Take It", "Night Drive", and "11:11". "Night Drive" and "11:11" had a bit of an almost punk feel, which I think added much-needed variety to the album, keeping the listener excited throughout the entire album without getting bored with the constant peppiness. While still reasonably upbeat, these two songs, I found, seemed to have more relatable lyrics than songs such as "Move Along". I believe that the two most ballad-like songs in the album, "It Ends Tonight" and "Can't Take It", were the gems of the album "Move Along". Contrary to parts of the album, which seemed too happy-go-lucky and almost hard to believe, these two songs were full with emotion that drew the reader in. Instrumentally, these songs also filled the album with more variety. "Can't Take It", my personal favorite song on the album, broke free of the drums-and-guitar relationship in many songs in this album that was beginning to feel bland, adding piano that almost held a classical feel. The memorable lyrics of "Can't Take It" combined with the excellent piano made this song a memorable finale to the album.

I enjoyed the album "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects. It was filled with memorable choruses, catchy tunes I couldn't stop singing, and several slower songs that truly deserved the high chart positions that some of the upbeat songs held. Though some of the band's choices in drum beats and guitar chords seemed not to vary much across the album, the album was marked with several songs that featured excellent piano accompaniment. The songs themselves were, for the most part, very well-paced, and in many pieces, the tempo varied throughout the song, keeping the listener interested. I would definitely recommend the album "Move Along" if you're looking for some upbeats tunes intermixed with some excellent slower and more punk-feeling songs!