New album from Daughtry
Posted by RyftSep 10
I have not been a fan of the show American Idol since its fifth season in 2006 when, for no reason that made any kind of sense, Chris Daughtry was eliminated from the show after rising to only fourth-place—a result further confounded by Taylor Hicks somehow taking home the win. Nevertheless, I will forever be grateful to the show for introducing to the world the phenomenon known as Daughtry, whose multi-platinum debut album shattered every expectation in both acclaim and sales (e.g., fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history) to become the number one rock album of 2007 in sales at 4.5 million copies. And, in my opinion, it was well earned. It still ranks among the most-played albums in my collection, and “What About Now” is still one of my favourite songs from 2008.
I was not aware until this evening that their second album, Leave This Town, was finally dropped on 14 July 2009. Thanks to an advertisement in iTunes for that heads up. I had to download that immediately. And, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report that this album does not disappoint! At this very moment I am listening to “Open Up Your Eyes” on my iPod Touch and it is… incredible. When your debut album is off the hook, trying to follow up its success can be intimidating, to say the least. But in my opinion (which means something only to people like Vicki, who share my musical tastes), the musical salience of this album exceeds that of the first. They took what was so great about the first album and seemed to perfect it for this one. While I love the album overall, there are five tracks in particular that I just cannot stop playing. They are, in order of playification:
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No Surprise [see official music video]
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Open Up Your Eyes
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September
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Tennessee Line
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Learn My Lesson
How the hell did this guy not win? Go, buy the album. Now.
(P.S. Listening to how the song “No Surprise” begins and ends, you can definitely detect Chad Kroeger’s influence on the collaboration.)
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2 comments
Comment by j2strat on 26 Sep 2009 at 13:06
How this mindless dreck even appears on this fine site simply astounds me. Daughtry, American Idol, reference to Nickelback, multi-platinum! All the buzzwords for corporate mediocrity devoid of one modicum of originality or redeeming talent. Surprised that such a fine missive is sullied by such a pathetic display of musical appreciation.
Comment by Ryft on 26 Sep 2009 at 18:01
Well, musical tastes are more biographical facts than objective facts. In other words, my appreciation for Daughtry tells you something about my listening pleasures and nothing about their musical talents. I know what appeals to me, and even if the number of artists producing music within that scope diminishes their originality, it is music I nevertheless find appealing. I love music from Within Temptation, who has its critics. I love music from Hans Zimmer, who has his critics. No surprise (pun intended) that Daughtry has critics too, but I certainly love their music.