CD Reviews

Artist: Gavin DeGraw
Album: “Chariot”
Release: 2003

By Steven Snyder
There is an unpretentious quality to Gavin DeGraw that will either turn people off or seal the deal. He sings of chance encounters, new love, betrayal, and parties – hardly the daring material some expect from “hip” or “edgy” albums. But there is a strength to his voice and a catchiness to his melodies that seems to blur out the methodical themes and backgrounds on DeGraw’s very first record, “Chariot.”

The litmus test is the album’s very first track, “Follow Through.” Opening with an acoustic guitar and a soft-spoken DeGraw, the track begins and ends with the same line: “Oh, this is the start of something good / Don’t you agree?” Clichéd? Perhaps. Sappy? Pretty much. But then the song takes flight, singer and music pushing forward until DeGraw’s consistent, passionate and liberated voice hits the line “And all, all I really want is you.”

For every moment he is featured, “Chariot” is fairly unpredictable. He has the timing and the vocal strength of any modern pop star, and he conveys an emotional sincerity that is missing from most teenie-bopper albums with their sweet words and artificial sentiment.

Evident from this record is that DeGraw has a promising career ahead of him. The CD’s packaging cites a review comparing him to a young Billy Joel or Van Morrison, and while he is not there yet, the comparison is well-earned. Most apparent is DeGraw’s control over the pacing and the phrasing of his music – paralleling exactly what makes Morrison such an unforgettable artist.

It is when the music gets in the way that “Chariot” stumbles. As songs open or work towards the bridge, their canned nature becomes apparent. And while DeGraw’s abilities are usually enough to elevate his material, in songs like “Chemical Party” and “I Don’t Want To Be,” the run-of-the-mill pop sound imprisons his voice, rather than setting it free.

“Chariot’s” a very good album, and features in DeGraw a rising star who will someday get his chance to shine.

Artist: Radiohead
Album: “Hail To The Thief”
Release: 2003

By Steven Snyder
For fans of alternative music, Radiohead’s “Hail To The Thief” may be the best album of the year. It is, thankfully, a few steps removed from their experimental-but-oh-so-pretentious “Kid A,” but still remains miles ahead of most other groups in terms of breaking new ground.

Most striking is “Thief’s” variety. This record is not merely a track listing, but a collective experience that demands a listener’s complete attention from beginning to end. Its opening sets the tone - the Orwellian “2+2=5,” which starts quietly with a syncopated beat and a faded guitar before exploding with a more full-bodied sound.

“Thief” then works through every musical permutation imaginable. From track to track, the music changes from loud electric guitar to restrained acoustic accompaniments, from melancholy piano to energized, frenetic electronic waves, pulses and even static. No two tracks sound the same and, often, two halves of the same song bear little resemblance to each other.

It is at this edge where Radiohead works best; a balance between convention and experimentation. Works like “Sail To The Moon,” “We Suck Young Blood” and “I Will” are each haunting with their slow, dark and methodical tales, while other tracks such as “Sit Down, Stand Up,” “Go To Sleep” and “There There” are each up-beat, and even catchy in their own unique ways.

And then, just as one thinks he has figured out “Thief’s” genre and approach, tracks like “Backdrifts,” “The Gloaming” and “Myxomatosis” spin the album on its head, all electronic tracks that obscure the lyrics in favor of sounds and motifs that absorb the mind. “The Gloaming,” in particular, seems to reach out and immerse the mind in its symphony of pulses, beats, bass and echoing vocals.

Beyond the music, “Thief’s” lyrics are among the most poetic and powerful released in years. Created explicitly as an anti-war album (front-man Thom Yorke is a vocal opponent of President Bush), many tracks attack a culture that Radiohead believes has lost its way. “2+2=5’s” repetitive climax closes out the verse: “It’s the devil’s way now / There is no way out / You can scream & you can shout / It is too late now / Because / You have not been paying attention.”

“ A Punchup at a Wedding” is a mellow, stylized song that paints a vivid picture of a disastrous family event. And “A Wolf at the Door” addresses fears that cannot be vanquished: “I keep the wolf from the door / but he calls me up / calls me up on the phone / tells me all the ways that he’s gonna mess me up.”

While bleak, “Hail To the Thief” is an endlessly engrossing experience. It is the rarity in mainstream music – an unpredictable album that is best appreciated with the lights off and the headphones on. It is somehow fun, sad, exciting, depressing, explosive and controlled all at once.

Artist: John Mayer
Album: “Heavier Things”
Release: 2003

By Steven Snyder

John Mayer’s Grammy-winning first album, “Room For Squares,” was one of the most successful debuts in years. His soft-spoken voice, youth-oriented lyrics, light-hearted accompaniments and sentimental tendencies hit just the right chord for mainstream, college-aged students in search for something just a little different. While still a good album, his sophomore work – “Heavier Things” – is deceptively titled.

True, Mayer does try to write with a bit more substance this time around. “Daughters” is an unlikely song about mothers, daughters, and the emotional bond between parent and child. The catchy “Wheel” is about, as its chorus says, “the way this wheel keeps working now,” implying life’s unrelenting march forward.

But even in songs like “Something’s Missing,” where Mayer methodically goes through everything in his life in hopes of finding the void (“Friends (check), Money (check), A well slept opposite sex, Guitar (check), Microphone (check), Messages waiting on me when I get home”), his occasionally insightful lyrics – always sung with his trademark whimsical, airy vocalizations – suffer from a lackluster musical scheme.

On “Room For Squares” some songs started off with a conventional structure, but they would almost always build towards an emotional plateau that was worth the wait. The lyrics had purpose and many of that album’s songs had notable moments that resonated with listeners.

On “Heavier Things,” that energy and focus is muted. Granted, Mayer’s work has never been all that different from other pop stars of today. But here, he sounds far too much like other acts. “Home Life,” in some moments, recalls Sting. “New Deep” and “Split-Screen Sadness,” musically, are surprisingly lazy and, minus Mayer’s lyrics, could have been pulled off any number of recent pop albums.

Occasionally “Heavier Things” works. Mayer recaptures that union of catchy music and passionate lyrics with the album’s first single, “Bigger Than My Body.” “Clarity” is the best mellow song on the album because it builds in its own, reserved way and accompanies his lyrics, rather than washing them out. And “Wheel” clings once again to the sentimentality that Mayer’s style seems so apt to explore.

But if the remainder of the album is what the disc’s title is referring to, I wish Mayer would have abandoned his heavier ideas and stuck to his lighter stuff.

Artist: Blur
Album: “Think Tank”
Release: 2003

By Steven Snyder
Blur’s latest album, “Think Tank,” is not just a step forward for the band, but a complete reincarnation. Without lead guitarist Graham Coxon, they are in the unique position of a band without every necessary component.

The Blur solution? Improvise.

Rather than giving up or, worse yet, bringing in a mediocre substitute, Blur simply makes “Think Tank” without much lead guitar. Bass guitar is used as a lead instrument, percussion and vocals pick up more slack than they otherwise would and a random assortment of other sounds (from pianos to synthesizers to echoes) are used to fill the void. “Think Tank,” as a result, is an album that sounds like no other in Blur’s repertoire because it is made by a band working with a completely different set of tools.
The question then becomes how one should judge Blur’s latest effort. “Think Tank” does not sound like standard, “Song No. 2” Blur. In its place stands a strange, beautiful mutant – part-Coldplay, part-Moby and part-Radiohead – never quite sure if it wants to be a moody, cerebral work or a straight-forward rock album.

“Ambulance” and “Crazy Beat,” best known from its unfortunate overuse in a Levi Jeans commercial, are straight rock songs. But even here, Blur counts on a unique, overpowering sound scheme to accommodate for their lack of instruments. For some of the album’s best songs, including “Good Song,” “Sweet Song” and “On The Way To The Club,” the band simply backs off, allowing simple sounds, melodies and minimalist themes to work their subdued and memorable magic. The focus here is not on words or melodies, but on managing an orchestra of raw sound.

Blur’s success at experimenting is never more evident than in “Jets,” where four simple sounds – drums, repetitive vocals, a dominant bass guitar and a simple, muffled guitar rift – make up almost the entire song. Some other sounds briefly interject, but it is purely the imaginative layering and mixing of this song that gives it momentum and purpose. Much like Moby’s success, the songs always move forward before they grow stale.

“Think Tank,” and its varied and moody structure, may be the product of a band in need of an easy fix, but the result is a stirring success. Fans of Blur, beware, this is not the band you are used to. In its place is something far more intriguing and, all things considered, better.

Artist: Maroon 5
Album: “Songs About Jane”
Release: 2003

By Steven Snyder
So much of Maroon 5’s success on “Songs About Jane” can be traced to the band’s syncopations. This is a CD that works its charms by creating alternating beats between the percussion, lead instruments and vocals, and then uses those crisscrossing patterns to punctuate the album’s lyrics, provide lead singer Adam Levine a framework to shatter with his explosive voice and entice the listener to crank up the bass and feel the rhythm.

Existing somewhere in the gray area between the boundaries of pop, hip-hop and R & B, Maroon 5’s uniqueness is very much one of its attributes. While the vocals may sound like those of Jamiroquai and some of the synthesized numbers may compare, however slightly, to the work of the Backstreet Boys or ‘N Sync, there is something refreshing about Levine’s soaring voice and the foundation created by the music from which he can take control.
Much of the album’s popularity thus far has been thanks to “Harder To Breathe,” the band’s first single and one of the best first tracks in years. It is an explosive song and one that sets the pace for the remainder of the album. Here, more than any other track, the beat carries the tune. On other songs, such as “This Love,” the rhythm is even obvious in the lyrics: “This – love – has – taken its toll on me.”

Levine’s voice must be singled out as Maroon 5’s greatest strength. He is completely in control of each number and can rip the lid off songs with both his restrained falsetto and his all-out screams.

The highlight of “Songs About Jane” is probably “She Will Be Loved,” a stylish, bass-heavy love song that then gives way to a more light-hearted and pop-bound chorus. While this, like most of the album’s songs, comes dangerously close to resembling just another derivative of today’s top 40 hits, it is always just unique enough to remain above that distinction.

Maroon 5 does not make great music, but it does make something fun, and different.

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