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Okay, let's get a few things straight before you read this. I've never really written any music critiques in my life, nor will you find my name reviewing the latest album in Rolling Stone anytime in the near future. The true measurement of any great writer is to write about anything and in case you can't tell, recently I've pretty much been all over the place, first with the "Triple Whopper Challenge," and now this music review. I wish to be a sportswriter professionally someday and writing about a variety of topics will only to help me grow as a writer. That's just my belief and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, I decided to change things up a bit and write a music review about O.A.R.'s new CD, "Stories of a Stranger." Drop me an e-mail at wadepeery@yahoo.com and tell me what you think.
In their latest album released on October 4th, “Stories of a Stranger,” the college rock band O.A.R. blends a multitude of sounds together to put out one of their best showings yet. Throughout the album, they use a symphonic and soothing blend of guitar, drums, saxophone to form the background for their many different stories, told by lead singer and guitarist Marc Roberge.
Throughout the song, “Program Director”, Roberge tells us the story about how he had to plead to get his band’s music played over the airwaves. Most of the base of the song is formed by the soothing saxophone of Jerry DePizzo and drummer Chris Culos. The band has a blend of different songs throughout the album, such as the upbeat tunes of “Program Director”, “Wonderful Day,” and “52-50”. All three of these tracks are favorites of mine, because just listening to them makes me want to get up and dance. They also comeback with some slow love songs such as “Nasim Joon” and “Heard the World” in order to bring some balance to the album.
The tune “Program Director” begins with a steady dose of drums, but quickly brings in some of the mellow reggae sounds that we’ve become accustomed to with O.A.R’s music. The song kicks off with sounds that remind me of a combination of 311 and Sublime rolled up into one. Then the soothing voice of Marc Roberge jumps in and helps to provide a combination that is simply scintillating. At the beginning of “Wonderful Day,” the guitar helps to steadily climb the tone of the song with the help of the drums, then the saxophone jumps into the fray and the song is off and running. Songs such as this one truly measure what makes O.A.R. so great, because they can blend a variety of instruments into an extremely powerful force that gushes over you like a tidal wave. Another tune I enjoyed was the mellow and laid-back tune of “Lay it Down”, where Marc Roberge sings about a girl, singing: “I’ve never seen nobody move the way you do, rock it steady and you know it too, you had to come down from heaven above and tease the world.” The mellow sounds of the guitar, saxophone, and drums help to combine with Roberge’s voice to form a very playful, enjoyable tune. The song also shows the band’s tremendous ability to sing about everyday life and roll them up into an entertaining package.
Perhaps their most powerful and influencing song comes at the end of the album, when the tune “52-50” is cranked out. Starting out with the drums and guitar building the tone for the song, the saxophone jumps in later in the song, then a more powerful guitar is strummed over top the combination of the three. The combination is simply stunning, forming a cataclysmic cacophony of sound that melts together to form a sound so smooth that you can skate on it. There isn’t any of the lead singer’s voice at the beginning of the song and I think that’s the way it should be. The band allows the force of those instruments to take their audience away into a special place. Words really aren’t needed when the sounds are that pure and soothing. It’s pretty ironic because Marc Roberge talks about a girl once again singing, “Like the wind, you snuck up on me, got me begging for your storm,” in the song and after hearing this tune fans really will truly be craving more of the soothing, symphonic sounds of this unstoppable band. At the end of the song, the guitar solo brought to us by the band is one of the best I’ve ever heard. I think it’s unfair to say it’s on the same level as a Jimi Hendrix solo, but let’s just say that he’d be proud that the guitar continues to be strummed in such an amazing fashion, climbing into the air for around the last 2:45 of the song.
Guitar solos like this one help to form music that really moves a person and make an impact on them. After all, if the music doesn’t move you, it hasn’t really achieved a purpose now has it? While there may be a few tracks on this album that I don’t like, there are too many good tunes on “Stories of the Stranger”, to resist the melting pot of sounds that OAR molds together. Their blend of guitar, drums, saxophone combined with Roberge’s voice is just an overwhelming force that cannot be pushed away. It’s definitely one of the best album’s the group has released and I’d look for much, much more in the future from this band. They’re knocking on the door of greatness. So if you can’t tell already, this album easily earns 4 stars out of 4 in my opinion. If you’re a fan of OAR or Dave Matthews, you won’t be able to take this album out of the CD player, because in the words of Robert Palmer, “Stories of a Stranger” by O.A.R. is “simply irresistible!”
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