CD REVIEW: ALEX BAND - WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE

Sunday, 29 August 2010 13:42 |

Written by Lazy Rocker |

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BAND/ARTIST: ALEX BAND

ALBUM: WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE

LABEL: AMB RECORDS, EMI

RELEASE DATE: 29-JUN-10 RATING 89 /100

GENRE: MAINSTREAM ROCK, MODERN ROCK

PRODUCER: VARIOUS PRODUCERS (SEE BELOW)

WEBSITE: http://www.alexband.net/

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/alexbandmusic

REVIEWER: MARC "LAZY ROCKER" SCHNEIDERS

When The Calling's smashing hitsingle "Wherever You Will Go" (one of my all time favorite songs) was released in 2002 and got a lot of airplay a girlfriend then said about frontman Alex Band "He's so cute and he's got the voice of a nightingale". I let her decide if he is really cute, but she was right about his voice. Fragile, but still very powerful.

Band released 2 albums with The Calling. Debut Album "Camino Palmero" was the most succesful due to the airplay of the singles "Wherever You Will Go" and "Adrienne". Billboard even named "Wherever You Will Go" as #1 Adult Pop Song of the Decade in 2009. They also named the song "Why Don't You and I," that Band took part in with Carlos Santana, the #5 Adult Top 40 Song of the Decade.

After The Calling had released their second album "II" in 2004, band mate Aaron Kamin had amicably decided to work on separate projects with Band being left to do "pretty much everything on my own". This caused Band to put The Calling on hiatus and venture into a solo career.

After finishing the recording sessions in 2007, Geffen, that signed Alex Band for his solo work, went through major restructuring, this coupled with the death of Band's long-term Manager Stu Sobol, meant the solo album was left in limbo. Band decided to do it all on his own and spent a year negotiating with Geffen to buy back the master tapes. In 2008 he released a 5-track EP.

Now 6 years after his last album with The Calling Alex is finally ready to release his first solo album titled "We've All Been There" on his own label AMB Records. The regular edition contains 14 self-written tracks and is produced by Matt Serletic, who has also produced Rob Thomas and Collective Soul; Tal Herzberg, who has also produced Black Eyed Peas; John Fields, who has produced Switchfoot and the Jonas Brothers, Matt Serletic and Daniel Damico.

The album starts with the title track which is a great rock song with nice string arrangements. It's a track that could also appear on a The Calling album. In fact I think the whole album sounds like The Calling. And that's not a bad thing to me.

Second track "What Is Love" is a nice mid-tempo powerballad. This is followed by the excellent lead single "Tonight", which was released along with a music video on February 15, 2010. A good choice I think. Pop rocker "Forever Yours" is another excellent track where you can hear what a great voice Alex has.

Time to lay down now for some romantic stuff: "Please" is a sensitive spiritual track followed by the emotional and passionate ballads "Will Not Back Down", "Euphoria" and "Never Let You Go". Next ballad, the poppy "Only One", already appeared on the Alex Band EP from 2008.

"Without You" is the second single taken from this album. A tune that will do good on the radio for sure. The album closes with the hopeful track, "Start Over Again". The right track to end the album with before you start to listen to it over and over again...

The album feels like you're reading through a journal, touching on love, spiritual guidance, heartbreak and moving on. The emotional music and lyrics within the album tell the story of the singer's personal struggles. Band's vocal talent and super song-writing are both stronger than ever. This album might sound a little softier than The Calling, but if you liked this band than you should defenitely check this one out.

TRACKLISTING:

01 "We've All Been There" — 4:00 *

02 "What Is Love" — 3:53

03 "Tonight" — 3:57 *

04 "Forever Yours" — 3:12 *

05 "Please" — 3:53

06 "Will Not Back Down" — 4:04 *

07 "Euphoria" — 3:54

08 "Never Let You Go" — 3:52

09 "Only One" - 3:36

10 "Leave (Today Is The Day)" — 3:34

11 "Holding On" — 3:18