Following a massive tour cycle, the band returned in 2009 with Love Drunk. This album saw a slicker, radio-ready production style thanks to Brian Howes (Hinder, Skillet). The keyword here is "massive."
Why FLAC matters for Love Drunk: This album is bombastic. The title track features a low-tuned guitar riff that loses its menace at 128kbps. The power ballad "Two Is Better Than One" (featuring Taylor Swift) relies on subtle piano harmonics and breath control. In lossy formats, the room reverb on Swift’s vocal gets cut off; in FLAC, it decays naturally.
Hidden Gem in Lossless: "Heart Heart Heartbreak" features programmed electronic drums layered over acoustic hits. In standard MP3, the transient attack (the "click" of the drum stick) gets distorted. A proper FLAC file preserves the attack/release envelope perfectly. boys like girls discography 20062012 flac best
Best FLAC Source: The standard 2009 CD is fine (16-bit). However, the Vinyl Master (12", 180-gram) is the holy grail. The dynamic range on the vinyl master is often less brick-walled than the CD. A needle-drop rip of that vinyl in 24-bit/192kHz WAV converted to FLAC is the definitive listening experience. Check specialized music forums for these rips (ensure they are user-created from personal collections).
| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | Spek | Visual spectrogram – check for 22kHz cut-off (true CD quality) | | CUETools / CTDB | Verify against AccurateRip database | | flac -t | Test integrity of FLAC file | | MediaInfo | See encoding details, source (CD, web, etc.) | Following a massive tour cycle, the band returned
Red flags (fake FLAC):
Many original CD rips from this era were done poorly—using Windows Media Player at 128kbps WMA or early iTunes AAC encodings. These "lossy" files removed frequencies above 16kHz to save space. Many original CD rips from this era were
Seek EAC (Exact Audio Copy) logs or vinyl rips from trusted trackers (Redacted, OPS). Avoid transcoded MP3s.
Best FLAC fingerprints:
- BoysLikeGirls_2006_FLAC_c2d3e8 (16/44.1)
- LoveDrunk_Vinyl_24bit_96kHz_5ab2c9
- CrazyWorld_HDTracks_24bit_44.1kHz_4f8e3a