Give it all Away

What has a good pop album with good pop singles, a pretty face and a self-taught piano player? Well, it is Ben Jelen's debut album, "Give it all Away."

Jelen wrote and co-wrote 11 of the 12 songs on the album. He played piano, violin and did all the vocals, as well. The songs are, for the most part, really good; however, the placement of the songs could have been better.

I find that when I listen to an album, I want there to be a build up to an explosion and then slowly let me back down. "Give it all Away" runs you all over the place. The title track, which is fourth on the album, is an absolutely amazing song. The sixth song, "Christine" is a great rock song. However, the song in the middle of these two, "Every Step" does not fit there. It is a very pop-oriented song with, and I may be wrong about this, but it sounds like there is a synthesizer in the background.

Jelen's songs sound very similar to each other. However, I believe this is a good thing. If songs sound similar then that means the artist has found his/her sound. This is the sound the artist enjoys playing and this will be the sound the fans will expect to hear.

There is a real feel to Jelen's album and his words. I personally enjoyed the songs he wrote himself. I felt these were more of an introduction into this new artist that will hopefully continue throughout his great career.