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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Album Reviews

  • Tinted Windows: The Soundtrack to Summer 2009??

    tinted-windows

    Tinted Windows is probably not a supergroup you would’ve seen coming, but that doesn’t stop their debut album from being one of the most fun pop records to come down the pike in a while. Who’s in the band?, you might ask. Well, on drums there’s Bun E. Carlos, of legendary power-pop band Cheap Trick. On guitar, there’s James Iha, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle. Your bassist is Adam Schlesinger, primary songwriter and chief wiseass for Fountains of Wayne, and on lead vocals…say hi to Taylor Hanson. Yes, THAT Taylor Hanson. Don’t lie. You know you’re still interested.

    Actually, if you’ve actually been following Hanson since “Mmmbop” turned them into teen sensations, you’d have known that they’ve released several highly entertaining albums recently, and that Taylor has grown into quite the assured vocalist. His voice is still boyish, and can alternately sound innocent or snotty, depending on what the song calls for. He’s the perfect fit for this band, bringing a bit of soul to what would still be a killer power-pop album. The riffs are crunchy, the drumming swings, and the hooks (mostly written by Schlesinger-is it me or is FOW one of the most underrated bands around these days?) are golden. These songs are perfect for dropping the top on the car on a nice summer day and singing at the top of your lungs.

    Tinted Windows uses the half-hour or so and 11 songs to pull just about every earworm trick out of the book. Whether it’s the “uh oh’s” and “whoa whoa”s in the frenetic album opener Kind of a Girl, the chorus of Doncha Wanna, which gets repeated so much it’ll ingrain itself in your head for at least a week, or the stut-stut-stuttered chorus of Take Me Back, these guys prove themselves masters of the great pop song.

    You know what the coolest thing about this album is? These guys sound like they’re having a fucking blast playing together. Most music is so processed and serious now-you rarely ever find anything in the mainstream that sounds as tossed-off (in a good way) and fun as Tinted Windows. So, if you’re looking for a great pop/rock album that you’ll be singing along with all summer, look no further than Tinted Windows. If you let the preconceived notions of a band with a Hanson brother keep you from checking this out, it’s your loss.

  • Taylor Hicks’ “The Distance”: True To No One But Himself

    taylor

    Taylor Hicks by far received the most derision of any “American Idol” winner in the show’s existence. He wasn’t “young”, he wasn’t “cute”, he wasn’t “pop”, and there was the whole screaming “Soul Patrol!” thing that rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way. But I’ll put my musical reputation on the line and say that Taylor was the most musically sound “American Idol” winner in the show’s history. With years of singing in smoky bars and clubs behind him, Hicks personified a musician’s musician. Which also explains why he butted heads with the major-label suits who didn’t know what to do with him and wound up releasing the worst-selling debut album by an “American Idol” winner in history (although with a not-too-shabby shiny Platinum record, we shouldn’t cry for Taylor too much).

    Despite the relative lack of success of Taylor’s debut, it was still the first album by any “Idol” contestant that I ever bought with my own money, and I enjoyed it a good bit. Hicks would have been right at home on the charts with Steve Winwood, James Ingram and (the singer he most resembles) Michael McDonald, on the charts back in 1986, and since that’s an era of music I’m particularly fond of, his music sounded just fine for me. However-it didn’t sound just fine for his label, and Taylor and the folks at 19 Management and RCA Records agreed to part ways.

    So now Taylor Hicks is an indie artist, which is probably right where he wants to be, making the album he wants to make. That album, “The Distance”, shouldn’t be much of a surprise to those who’ve been following the grey-haired crooner since his “Idol” days. The music is straight-ahead pop/rock, with no trendy bells and whistles. The production, helmed by British pop legend Simon Climie, is solid if a little too clean (and completely recorded on “live” instruments! Barely a synthesizer to be found!), and then there’s Taylor’s husky voice. While he’ll never be the soul singer he fancies himself, it’s fairly obvious that this man has the right set of influences and has listened to his share of Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles.

    So, here’s the thing about Taylor, right? You know the guy’s going for the obvious, hokey cliché, but you go there with him anyway because he obviously believes what he’s singing. Take the track “Nineteen”, one of several songs on “The Distance” with a bit of a country flavor to it. You’ve heard songs like this a million times before-kid witnesses 9/11 and decides to enlist to serve his country. Despite the obviousness of the song concept (and here’s a spoiler-the kid doesn’t die), Taylor infuses the song with such a personal investment in the lyrics that you can’t be mad at him.

    Ultimately, that’s “The Distance”’s saving grace. Taylor takes boilerplate lyrics about topics like racism (the well-intentioned but kinda cheesy title track) and the media’s celebrity obsession (the cheeky rave-up “Keeping it Real”) and, by virtue of his delivery (which nevertheless skates around Michael Bolton aneurysm territory a couple of times) makes them listenable. However, don’t let another soul singer get within sniffing distance. Fellow Season 5 finalist Elliott Yamin shows up for a cover of 2009 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer Bobby Womack’s classic “Woman’s Gotta Have It”, and his warm, Stevie-inflected delivery leaves no doubt as to who should have really won “Idol” that year.

    In a time when we have previous “Idol”s tucking their tails between their legs and kissing corporate butt for a hit (hi, Kelly Clarkson. I’m talking to you), I’m backing Taylor Hicks just on principle. The kid (and I can afford to say “kid” because he’s younger than me) came in with a plan to get himself heard, accomplished it and then went back to doing what he loved best, only with a bit more fame to carry his name. Something tells me he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • First Listen: The Fray

    frayEvery couple of years, along comes a mega-successful pop/rock band that has catchy tunes but no discernible identity at all…think Matchbox 20 before Rob Thomas developed a personality. The most recent example of this phenomenon would have to be The Fray. On the back of two mega-successful singles, the Denver-based quartet’s debut album, How to Save a Life, came out of nowhere to sell nearly three million copies. This happened despite the fact that the band had nothing to market themselves with except for their songs-no gimmicks, no outspoken members, no hot lead singer for the chicks to fawn over. Nope, The Fray were the brown paper bag of pop/rock groups…

    …and now they’re back for round 2. Their self-titled sophomore effort follows the template set by their debut. Midtempo piano-based tunes with a bit of a rock edge, angsty lyrics, and hooks that are incredily catchy and easy to sing along with are the order of the day. You’ll hear these songs coming out of radio stations and advertising TV shows for some time to come.

    First single You Found Me is cut from the same cloth as the band’s earlier hits like Over My Head (Cable Car) and How to Save a Life, only with a stronger guitar sound. The piano isn’t as front and center, and The Fray sounds like an actual band instead of a showcase for tortured lead singer Isaac Slade. Never Say Never will definitely be a future single, with the refrain of “don’t let me go” giving the song a lighter-waving vibe as well as an immediate hook. Absolute is another winner, with a pretty falsetto chorus, while Ungodly Hour is a more spare, almost Tori Amos-like piano ballad. Slade’s fragile higher register is a good fit for this brittle song.

    The Fray trips up on account of its’ anonymity. It’s taken me three weeks of listening in order to be able to differentiate songs. Even though the album is incredibly compact (10 songs, 43 minutes), there are 3 or 4 tracks that don’t have anything to separate themselves from the pack. They’re pleasant enough to listen to, but there’s nothing unique about them, and they’re not hooky enough to stand out. Then there’s the issue of Slade’s vocals. While his voice (which occasionally sounds like it’s about to crack) definitely packs an emotional wallop, there’s only so much angst you can take. I also remember reading a review of this album that noted the fact that Slade’s vocals are often garbled. Glad to know I’m not the only person that notices that.

    There’s not a lot of experimentation to be found on The Fray, which I guess is a good and a bad thing. Good because they know what they do best, and bad because the songs have a definite similarity to one another-especially because they fall under two tempos-slow and slower. It’s actually nice to hear the band stretch out a little on the album’s final two songs. We Build Then We Break has an anthemic, thundering U2 vibe, while Happiness brings in a gospel choir for emphasis.

    At the end of the day, if you dug How to Save a Life (which was a reasonably enjoyable record), you’ll dig this album. The Fray doesn’t exactly have anything exciting going for it, but it’s dependable, radio-friendly pop, sort of like the love child of Coldplay and 3 Doors Down. Much like the band’s debut, there are a couple of standout songs as well as a couple of completely generic ones, and while I recommend it with reservations, I still think it’s a worthy addition to a pop/rock fan’s music collection.