Tuesday, September 18, 2012

DAUGHTRY: "Break The Spell (Tour Edition)"

Rating: RRRR
Label: Sony 2012
Review by Alan Holloway

Although this album by American Idol heart throb (well, a few years ago now) Chris Daughtry was released last November it seems to have slipped through our fingers at Rock United, so this ‘Tour Edition’ (also known as the ‘Give Us More Cash Edition’) will have to do for us.

Firstly, you need to know what differentiates this from your bog standard 2011 version. What you get here is the original ‘special’ edition, which runs to sixteen tracks, plus a DVD featuring three music videos and five live tracks. This sort of thing is always annoying, because those with the bog standard edition tend to feel rightfully cheated. As I never had the original, though, I feel fine!

Musically, Daughtry doesn’t take any chances. The music is strong, melodic and tuned to perfection, a blend of every radio friendly hard rock at of the last 20 years, backed up by the undeniably great voice of Chris Daughtry himself. Seriously, this man has a larynx tailor made for this sort of thing, and can wail alongside the likes of Jon Bon Jovi and Uncle Ted Poley with ease. The tracks are very solid, with plenty of catchy choruses, such as “Can’t Get You Out of My Head’, which is only a crunchy guitar away from being a One Direction song but is so catchy you forgive it. The style is Nickleback meets Bon Jovi, and when it’s good it’s very, very good indeed. There are no duff tracks, although with a 16 strong rota the better songs tend to stand out more. Still, this album has happily been on rotation here for the last week or so, with plenty of comments and appreciation from passers by.

Sony aren’t going to make many new friends with this cash in re-release, as fans don’t get much they haven’t seen or heard already, but if you are new to the name Chris Daughtry and you like radio friendly hard rock this is a great place to start. If, like me, you have become disillusioned with dull Bon Jovi albums, then “Break The Spell” just might give you something new to rave about.
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