Big Balls Reviews: The Fray

I take music seriously. Taking this into account, I've decided to review albums as I interpret them. My reviews are by no means professional in nature, I have very little experience in the way of formal critiques. In this installment, I take a look at The Fray by The Fray.

Before this, I had almost no experience with The Fray, a contemporary rock group. The album starts off strong with “Syndicate,” an up-beat number with catchy lyrics. This is possibly my favorite track. The next song is “Absolute,” which has a nice persistent and up front guitar lick throughout, something not often seen on the album. Most of their songs are extremely piano- and drum-heavy, which I suppose is an integral part of their overall presentation in general. Both of the next two tracks, “You Found Me” and “Say When” seem to use the Fray's patented formula of starting off slow and building to a high crest and following with a series of smaller downs and ups throughout the rest of the song until they end on the same tempo as they began. This creates a solid flow, however at times over the album it became slightly difficult to differentiate when one track ended and the next began if I wasn't actively paying attention. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just shows that they had little overall variety between tracks. Track number 5, “Never Say Never,” also follows this pattern. The singer's voice has a soothing quality about it but it can be somewhat repetitive. One nice touch I noticed on this track was the inclusion of some violin work in the background which added a nice effect. “Where the Story Ends,” the next track on the album, is another of my favorites. The drum work was well recorded and provided an energized driving beat to the whole song. It seemed like a slight departure from the previous several songs pattern, which was welcome. Another standout was “Ungodly Hour,” which featured brushes on the drums. This is something that to me, seems relatively rare in modern rock songs. The acoustic guitar in the background also helped to fill out the song, contrasted with the piano's melody part. Next, we have “We Build Then We Break.” This is another of my favorite tracks, due to the excellent drum rhythms and guitar work. They even threw in some synthesizer, which only added to the song. The drum solo at 2:39 also added to the intensity of this particular track. The final track is entitled “Happiness” and brings the album back to a mellow level. It features more acoustic guitar than the others, and surprisingly low drum and piano. Another surprising element was the choir singing harmony during the final chorus in the last minute twenty.

Overall I enjoyed this album. As, again, I had little previous exposure to The Fray, I had little in the way to compare it to directly. For my taste it had a too little guitar work, and became repetitive at times. Unless you are a big fan of the group to begin with, it seems like it could be hard to listen to the whole album through without losing attention. However, the simple way I found to combat that is to stick it in a shuffle with the likes of Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and John Mayer (If you're a fan of any of those three, I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen). I found it slipped in seamlessly with other such modern rock groups and that seemed to be the best way to appreciate the album. This is a perfectly decent example of contemporary rock, and I would not be surprised to see it nominated for a Grammy or two next year.


But hey, that's just my opinion.

David Beckham & the Los Angeles Debacle, Part II

So I just received the news today: Beckham is, for all intents and purposes, out. AC Milan and the Galaxy reached a deal that allowed Becks to extend his loan, so that he won't come back to the US until July (more than halfway through the regular season). In his contract he has a clause allowing a buyout at the end of the year, so he's all but done with MLS. If I were Bruce Arena (head coach of the Galaxy) I would bench his sorry ass for the few games he'll be available for. Sure it'd be a little waste of money, but that's what he has become anyway. Goodbye and good riddance, his performance at Milan will probably sag soon after they buy out his LA contract.