| CD REVIEW The All-American Rejects |
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Band: The All-American Rejects This Stillwater (Oklahoma) based American Pop Rock band’s formation came about in a not so peculiar way. Back in 1996, now remaining original members Tyson Ritter (lead vocals, bass) and then drummer Nick Wheeler were still playing in their original bands (Drowning Fish and Curbside Service), when the two happenstanced upon each other at some party in late 1996. They struck an immediate bond through mutual musical tastes and connection on a personal level, and when Wheeler mentioned his band was actually looking for a new bassist, Ritter convinced him that he was the man to fill that position. The funny peculiarity being that at that time he’d never even touched a bass, let alone played one! But he bought a bass guitar as soon as possible, and spent the whole Christmas vacation practicing the instrument. Once he got the bass under control, he picked up contact with Wheeler again…and The All-American Rejects were a fact! When singer/guitarist Jesse Tabish left the band in 2000, the band was reduced to a duo. So Wheeler switched to guitar, and Ritter took over the duties as singing frontman! That same year, they recorded their 9-track debut mini-album Same Girl, New Songs, which they self-released in early 2001. With the addition of some interim extra members, they started touring, came under the attention of Doghouse Records, and got signed. After the addition of guitarist MikeKennertyand drummer Chris Gaynor in early 2002, the quartet recorded their official debut. That album immediately got the band its breakthough, thanks to the smash hit single Swing Swing (other singles came for “Time Stands Still” and “The Last Song” – incidently, that wàs the last song on the original album, the British re-issue containing a bonus track). September 30 of 2003 saw the release of the band’s first DVD Live From Oklahoma…The Too Bad For Hell DVD, issued through DreamWorks records. The band signed onto the Universal distributed Interscope for the release of the 2005 album Move Along. Besides the singles for the title track and “It Ends Tonight”, the album also produced the band’s absolute hit single Dirty Little Secret, which got to the #9 spot in the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2006. On July 2007 Interscope then issued The AAR’s second DVD Tournado! The When The World Comes Down album was released in the US during December of last year, and this European re-issue is enhanced with the addition of no less than 8 bonus tracks on top of the original 11! Admittingly, one of ‘em is a 30-second bit of absolute silence, but 6 of ‘em are demo versions of album songs. Nice of the guys to show the fans how a song evolves when being recorded in a decent studio, possibly under the influence of a producer (in this case one Eric Valentine) or the addition of additional instrumentation (keyboards played by “fifth” member Kevin Saulnier, live strings, extra outside vocalists, etc, etc…). According to the inlay card which comes with the album, the CD also unlocks bonus video downloads and images available on the band’s own website (americanrejects.com). To get an idea of what this very Poppy band (hey, they dó occasionally Rock out, you know…as proven by the fuzz-guitar fused intro of “Real World”…but even thàt track has its calmer passages as well) sounds like, surf to myspace.com/americanrejects (regretfully, at the moment I checked, the band’s older songs on the player wwere apparently disactivated…ach well, there àre some videos available, you know). This kind of music is definitely meant to please an as broad as possible audience, and to get that result you get a lot of strings, piano play, balladesque stuff…get the picture? Lyrically things are still a bit juvenile (one songs damning an old love, the next still yearning for her; “I Wanna” deealing with his wanting…to get on second base with his girlfriend). There’s a slight feeling of disgust remaining in my mouth because of the whole commercialism of it all, but I cannot deny that the band has composed some really effectively catchy stuff (which is certain to remain clinging to my mind for a while to come)…and known how to bring it in its most effective way! 82/100 Tony. |