Unlimited Music

About a week ago, I reviewed the most commonly-known Yellowcard album, Ocean Avenue. Since they released the CD that put the nationwide spotlight on them, the band has released two more CDs. The first sequel they released was Lights and Sounds. With their popularity growing as their new singles continued to hit the radios, Yellowcard faced a major task in repeating their task and continuing to expand their fan base.

When I first heard about Lights and Sounds, it was about the time the first single, also named “Lights and Sounds” hit the airwaves. The song impressed me as much as any song on their previous albums had. It showed maturity and an improved sound while keeping enough intact from their initial sound.

Unfortunately, one of the greatest problems I had with the rest of Lights and Sounds is that it didn’t follow the formula of its opening track. The album tries its best to recreate the magic of Ocean Avenue but fails due to a number of reasons. The first reason is the fact that the band decided to emphasize their violin play less on this album. While sometimes over-the-top on their previous CDs, the violin was what separated Yellowcard from other similar bands. The other main reason this album failed, in my opinion, was the lack of emotional songs. The best songs on Ocean were the extremely emotional ones. The best songs on Lights are the upbeat, fast-paced tracks.

This wasn’t a bad album by any means. The aforementioned “Lights and Sounds” is a great song, as is “Rough Landing Holly” and “Down On My Head.” But if the band was looking for a release on the same level or better than Ocean Avenue, they failed.

Grade - B - A good CD but a disappointing one.

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Earlier on this blog, I reviewed an Anberlin CD called Never Take Friendship Personal. For those who were fans of that album, Blueprints For The Black Market is a release that is just as good and features the same strengths and weaknesses, the few that exist, of their second CD.

Blueprints was the band’s first CD and was, like their second and even their third albums, widely overlooked. That, in itself, is a shame as Anberlin has a unique sound that I am sure fans of the rock genre would enjoy. A great example of a song that should be more well-known is “Naive Orleans.” The song has catchy lyrics, an emotional “pop” sound, and great instrumentals. Just the type of track that should have been an instant radio hit.

Instead, the relative obscurity of the band forced them to only release one single, the first track “Readyfuels,” and subsequently left the album overlooked. While “Readyfuels” is a good song in itself, it is not a good indication by itself of how good Blueprints For The Black Market really is. The album features both fast and slow songs. It features emotional tunes, like the aforementioned “Naive Orleans,” and chest-pounding party tracks like “The Undeveloped Story.”

I don’t really know what more a fan of the rock genre wants. The sound isn’t like every other band you hear on the radio. The CD isn’t limited by one style of music, meaning that every song does not sound the same. And the band itself is consistently good. Check this album out, you won’t regret it.

Grade - A- - Easy to listen to and many songs that will make your play list. Well worth the purchase and look.

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One of the more unique aspects of Yellowcard has always been their inclusion of the violin into their music. In certain songs, it is overkill and doesn’t work as well as it could if it was regulated to a smaller role. But for the most part, it blends perfectly with the other instruments and vocals.

Ocean Avenue is still, to this day, the best example of Yellowcard’s work. While they have released two CDs after Ocean Avenue, neither matches the high level of this album. The CD kicks off with “Way Away.” The song, probably best known for it’s usage within a Madden game, is the perfect start. After “Way Away” is “Breathing” and “Ocean Avenue.” While both songs are decent, they represent the overly-pop music that the band tends to create now and then.

The two best songs, and the ones I would recommend to anyone, off of Ocean Avenue are “Only One” and “Believe.” The former is by far the most emotional song on the album and is beautifully delivered and written. It is one of the few “sad” songs that one can listen to over and over again. Meanwhile, the latter is a tributary song to the firefighters who helped save people during the 9/11 attacks. In short, it is a terrific song and an even better tribute.

Outside of the five songs mentioned, there are many good yet unmemorable songs. The entire album flows pretty well.

Grade - B+ - A good CD with two awesome songs and a plethora of other good tracks.

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Earlier on this blog, we reviewed the first Eiffel 65 CD, Europop. The album, while it had its positives, was mostly muddled with repeat lyrics and similar sounds. Going into their second CD, Eiffel 65 had to have been looking to change their image a little.

To tell the truth, there isn’t much difference in Contact. Eiffel is very good at what they do. Make a bumping beat and add one or two lines of lyrics to it. While they occasionally do try to diversiy their music with slower and sadder songs, they mostly work upbeat. One of my favorite songs of this CD fits both of these principles. “DJ With the Fire” is a terrific song that is instantly addictive.

And the rest of the CD follows the same basic pattern. “Back in Time,” “Faraway,” and “Journey” are all great songs. And while there is no real depth to any of these songs, there is no problem with liking guilty pleasure techno songs.

Of course, Eiffel 65 doesn’t fail to add a little bit of diversity into their new album. “Losing You” makes use of female and male vocals in an interesting way that works pretty well. And “World in a World” is a great song that actually has full lyrics. In fact, “World in a World” may be the best song on the entire album and it is a shame that Eiffel doesn’t make more songs just like it. They certainly have all the tools to be a better band than they are.

Maybe we’ll never see Eiffel 65’s full potential. They did break-up and this is their final, legit release. But it is worth checking out and it is certainly entertaining.

Grade - B - A decent release with better highs than Europop but the same amount of lows.

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Those of you who have been reading this blog may think that my scores are random. I don’t give much specific justification for different grades and this is done intentionally. Music is an artistic expression of a group or a single person. I don’t think it is fair, for that reason, to put every band on a scale and give them grades that, basically, compares them to one another.

The truth is that I often give bands the benefit of the doubt when their album is the first of their work I have heard. On the other end of this spectrum, however, is increased scrutiny for follow-up albums and new CDs from my favorite artists. That is why two of the lower rated albums on this blog, thus far, are Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park and Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World. Its not like I never listen to these albums, they actually are not all bad. But I just expected more and better.

The other thing I really look for are bands that show variety in their albums. Any band with a record deal can create a CD with twelve to thirteen similarly-sounding songs. But it takes true talent and skill to try out other styles, other paces, and other music. That is why I love Black Holes and Revelations by Muse.

A final thing readers may have noticed is that I generally do not give very low grades. That is because I am not a professional music reviewer and I have no reason to listen to albums I don’t like. Most of the music I list on this blog is stuff I would recommend to friends.

Hopefully this explains my rating system better. Happy listening!

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Before I began this review, I should mention that I am not a traditional A New Found Glory fan. Their singer’s high-pitched tones and teenage-emotional lyrics seemed very immature and unappealing to me. With that said, one of their later releases, Catalyst, is a CD that everyone should check out and features some of the band’s best work.

One of the big knocks on the band is that their songs sound repetitive and often have no meaning. While the latter may still be true in many of their songs, A New Found Glory exhibits much diversity in their album. “This Disaster” is a song that is up-tempo and works well in video games, where it has been used. Meanwhile “I Don’t Want To Know” is by far the best emotional song done by the band, as the slow pace and exuberant lyrics fit together perfectly.

And the CD continues to produce hits between and after these tracks as well. “All Downhill From Here” is a great song that makes good use of the album’s title. And “Failure’s Not Flattering” is a fun, fast-paced song that contrasts well with some of the earlier tracks on the album.

As a whole this is a good CD. Again, I am not a typical fan of A New Found Glory. The majority of their work grates me and I would prefer not to listen to much of their earlier stuff. But this fulfilled all of my doubts and made me a fan of the band.

Grade - B+ - Still not the best CD because it fits many of the band’s usual styles, but better than their old stuff. Worth checking out.

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In what may be their final album, Audioslave delivers some of their best work. Chris Cornell’s grating voice has always worked perfectly with the advanced guitar work of the former Rage Against the Machine members, but the band’s sound never came together as it should…until now.

The CD opens with a bang with the song “Revelations.” The song focuses more on Cornell’s lyrics and voice than the other band members and uses a terrific mid-song build up to keep listeners hooked for multiple listens. After the opening track is “One And The Same.” This song might be my favorite off of the album as a whole. The guitar solo in the song is just about the best I’ve heard in a long time. Of course, such solos are commonplace for Audioslave (and Rage for that matter) as other tracks, such as “Original Fire” show.

In fact, the guitars in “Original Fire” is so impressive that it overshadows the excellent music video that accompanied the first single. Using only riffs and their fingers, the band manages to create the impression that the guitar itself is actually laughing.

Just about every song on this album, from the aforementioned songs to others like “Broken City” are good. While the band’s style does sometimes carry the threat of repetitiveness, many of the tracks come off feeling fresh and should please fans of the genre and band.

Grade - A- - It is a shame that the band broke up after this album…the band was just hitting their high points.

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Earlier on this blog we discussed the musical video game Rock Band. Unlike previous video games in the same genre, Rock Band is the first video game to feature all instruments in a normal band. These include guitars, bass and electric, drums, and vocals.

Unfortunately, because of the inclusion of all of these different instruments, pricing for Rock Band is quite different than other video games. Whereas most games retail for around fifty to sixty dollars, this game has to account for the additional cost of giving users guitars, drums, and microphones to jam with. Because of these factors, most people expected this game to sell for much more than a regular video game.

For those looking for a cheap video game, the official pricing announcement of Rock Band will do little to appease your wishes. The game will sell for about one-hundred and seventy dollars, which is more than a hundred dollars more expensive than other popular video games like Halo 3 and Metroid Prime. This extreme price difference is because of the additional accessories mentioned before.

Now this might sound like a lot of money. But Guitar Hero games, which only allow players to play lead guitar, normally cost around ninety dollars and this game allows players to use three other band vehicles. Because of this fact, the price may be a bargain when comparing the two games.

Rock Band is not the type of game that is for everyone. Guitar Hero 3 will probably sell better because of the lower price. But for those looking for group fun and full band experiences, Rock Band may just be worth it’s $169.99 price tag.

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Maybe I should have seen this coming. For the past few months my attention on the music world has been solely devoted to looking up information on the new Jimmy Eat World CD and trying to find sites to listen to the CD as early as possible. Then, after finally getting the CD a few days ago, I was overly disappointed.

Maybe my problem is that I need to listen to this new sound longer, get used to it. Maybe I am putting the band too high and expect too much from them. But the conclusion I keep reaching is that Chase This Light is not a very good album and has the stink of a band that has sold out. That’s not to say there aren’t good songs, there are. But whereas Futures and Bleed American had little to no bad songs, this CD has plenty of repetitive and unappealing tracks.

Let’s start with the good. The first single, “Big Casino,” is a song that will grow on you and reminds of classic Jimmy Eat World. In addition, the third track, “Always Be,” is a terrific song that could easily have been on their two previous albums. To a certain extent, these songs, as well as one or two others, make up for the poorer ones.

But in the end, the amount of mediocre and bad songs far outweigh the good. The problem with songs like “Chase This Light” and “Dizzy” is that they lack a unique sound and that they don’t follow J.E.W.’s style. Typically, Jimmy finishes their CDs with a seven-minute ballad that is both powerful and emotional. “Dizzy,” clocking in at just over two minutes, is a far cry from “23″ and “My Sundown.”

Bands often lose their way when their popularity skyrockets. Some find their way back and others milk out their fame as much as they can until everyone hates them. I hope Jimmy Eat World fires Butch Vig, gets a producer that understands their style, and comes back better next time around. For now, I am just disappointed.

Grade - B- - There are good songs on this CD but not enough to impress me. When compared to older releases, this is just not what a fan should expect from Jimmy.

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Back when I was in middle school, one of my favorite bands was Rage Against the Machine. While their songs tended to occasionally grate on and on about issues, there was no question that their musical talent was among the top in the industry. So it was a shock when Zack de la Rocha, lead singer, announced that he would be leaving the band in late-2000. Immediately fans of the band were in turmoil, bemoaning the premature break-up of the premier group.

Of course, the remaining members of the band, minus de la Rocha, found Chris Cornell and created Audioslave. Audioslave was a great replacement for Rage and at times, in my opinion, even surpassed them. But that is a different story entirely. The only important part about the Audioslave era is that it is, in fact, over right now. Cornell chose to purse his own solo career and the Rage/Audioslave members were left without a lead singer again.

This opened the door for Rage to reunite. While a reunion is far from complete, to this point, the band has played together and toured together in the past year. In fact, when the band put up concert tickets for their latest shows, to be played in 2008, for sale, they were all gone within a few minutes.

So what does this mean for the future? So far, nothing. But de la Rocha and the RATM/Audioslave band members aren’t going to remain in limbo, without a studio group, forever. And touring together and playing live shows has a good chance in stirring up old feelings of camaraderie. And while it may be too premature to declare a reunion at this point, it doesn’t seem impossible any more. And that, on it’s own, is great news for fans of the band.

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