Eclectic

[peteryoung]

The Calling, Camino Palmero, 2002
Creed, Weathered, 2001
Evanescence, Fallen, 2003



The Calling, Camino Palmero, 2002
LA quintet The Calling's first album is altogether an uplifting and ready-for-radio one, mixing teen angst with conscious self-victimisation but with highlights as pronounced as the blond ones in Alex Band's hair. There are some indulgent moments on this debut and they weren't afraid to reveal who they were stealing from: both the riff and drumming of 'Nothing's Changed' are directly drawn from Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' and they clearly weren't intimidated by it, giving memories of that song their own entirely different twist and direction. My favourite track is probably 'Could It Be Any Harder', a heartfelt song of longing and regret that creeps into your consciousness unawares and makes you remember – or even wish – that you once had it as bad as this. The Calling may have been the darlings of the Smallville generation largely because of the hit 'Wherever You Will Go', but I reckon their brief reign is coming to an end. Their second album Two (released after most of the band had gone their seperate ways just leaving two of them) was a forgettable, unclear, patchworked and hurried affair, often a poor re-riffing of Camino Palmero that showed they need more time for inspiration to strike between albums. They're currently on a self-declared hiatus, and I'll be approaching any third album with caution, or perhaps won't even bother, but I have respect for the dynamism of what they achieved with their first.



Creed, Weathered, 2001
Creed achieved two things: not only were they briefly the biggest rock band in the world, they were probably also the most misunderstood. Endless incorrect music press comparisons with Pearl Jam combined with constantly having to bat away the charge of being a Christian rock band probably took their toll on Scott Stapp, the frontman truly burdened by God from a strict Pentecostal upbringing. However he always gave us songs that actually meant something, and with Weathered he allowed himself to mature beyond his usual simple questioning of faith, trust, anger and doubt into songs that explored these themes with a greater maturity. And while always trying to live up to U2's The Joshua Tree they finally took their music as far from from 'metal by numbers' as they could reasonably get for a definitive metal band. Weathered also possesses a stunningly clear production that separates out the wall of guitars from the more subtle intricacies that make this a far more multidimensional album than they'd previously achieved. Stapp's vocals goes from tender to exceedingly butch and back again, and Scott Phillips's drumming, previously too often sounding like it was recorded in the bathroom of the home studios they always used, at last went from a dull thud to a properly resonant thwack. The reoccurrence of previously explored ideas, despite having a backlog of over a hundred other songs on which they could have drawn, also showed they were consciously refining themselves, but theirs was a very high order of navel-gazing (one highlight being 'Don't Stop Dancing', which is a direct descendant of Human Clay's 'Never Die'). In comparison to Weathered it's tempting to recast Creed's two previous albums My Own Prison and Human Clay as merely 'promising', as Weathered delivers what the others only aspired to and making it probably the only Creed album you actually need. I'd also cautiously assert it's the first truly monumental rock album of the 21st century. Stapp's departure allowed for a welcome shedding of the tormented angst, and Creed's resurrection as Alter Bridge with superb vocalist Myles Kennedy is in my opinion a complete success, their first album One Day Remains being my top album of last year.



Evanescence, Fallen, 2003
The 'dark rock' band from Little Rock, Arkansas, may have captured a certain zeitgeist that lives in the dark thoughts of today's goth kids, but for my liking Evanescence get too much mileage out of this notion of defiance, not just of the feeling of being a misunderstood teen but as if life itself is out to kill them off. Fallen is a 6 x Platinum debut album of 'victim music' in similar tortured vein to the more mainstream rock of Melissa Etheridge: Prozac Nation in song, carved out of a dark musical lode not as deep-running as it first seems or even with the great depths of despair aspired to, all screamed very loud with a hard musical punch to back it up. The overall effect is whiny, depressing, and yet tries to be ever so sincere. Nevertheless thay can write a good tune or three and 'Bring Me To Life' rightly became a big hit for them, appearing on endless compilation CDs. Amy Lee's voice needs its high register to be heard above the trademark grunge-guitar distortions and she only really shines as an above-average vocalist on the quieter and more considerate tracks, which are too few here. Parental advisory. ;-)

Comments

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

Personally I always found Creed's Scott Stapp somewhat pompous and his lyrics trite. There are numerous examples of rock frontmen from a strong Christian background who have conveyed their beliefs or their difficulties around their beliefs more imaginatively.. Musically Creed were never more than average either.

I do agrre about The Calling though, and it is hard tomthink of another ecent band who have declined so far from first to second albums.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

What struck me as odd about Creed was that they probably knew they were thematically backing themselves into a corner and didn't seem to mind doing so. Musically, I agree, they were none too clever either but as you can probably tell I do have a strong liking for Weathered because it's more focussed, and I now mostly disregard the other two earlier albums. Alter Bridge, on the other hand, are several degrees more musically liberated, even though it's the same musicians without Stapp.

[hnpcc]

While I do like Evanescence they really do pale in comparision to Nightwish. Now there's a band with some seriously dark (and occasionally silly) thoughts. Best song (for me) is still the cover of Gary Moore's Over the hills and far away but Wish I had an angel and Creek Mary's blood are still good.

And I'm totally jealous of both Amy Lee and Tarja Turunen though: I really wish I could sing like that!