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O.A.R. - Stories Of A Stranger
- Graduating to a major label, Of A Revolution is sounding the better for it. Transitioning from indie label Everfine to their new label Lava, O.A.R. and lead singer Marc Roberge have earned their success.
For those of you who know O.A.R. from their previous studio efforts such as Wanderer and Souls Aflame, Stories of a Stranger is an impressive progression. You'll feel like you're watching something that you've personally been nurturing for a long time realize its possibilities.
Roberge and Co. are now more in tune, both melodically and with each others' musical goals than we've heard them before. While their previous studio efforts sound like a college band having fun with their friends, Stories of a Stranger is a serious effort from a serious band who realize their potential to reach a broader audience than the back room of a frat on a college campus. Their constituency is growing up, and they're not only growing up with them by default, but have decided to lead the way.
Gone are the out of tune backup vocals and the slightly free form song structure. Producer and ex-Talking Head Jerry Harrison (Live, the Verve Pipe, Violent Femmes), brings his punk rock roots into the fold and crafts songs that I don't think the band themselves even thought they were capable of. This is plainly evident on their single "Love and Memories", which opens with a pounding punk guitar riff that I can assure you, you have not heard from these guys before. And it works.
Where this disc falls flat for me, however, is when they're going to back to the sound we're used to from these guys. Their beats on great "island influenced" tracks like "One Shot", "Program Director", and especially at the close of "Lay Down", sound too "white-boy trying to channel the salty sweet island Margaritaville life." The sax (Jerry Dipizzo) and percussion (Chris Culos) need to be let loose a la Clarence Clemmons and Max Weinberg in their Asbury Park heyday. They need to further discover their 70's funk.
It's perhaps because of these tracks that I feel the disc is a little unbalanced. The style they're used to playing in and the one that's gotten them as far as they have come, is a little at odds with the more pop oriented tracks on the first half of this album, and it doesn't help that the excitement you feel on the first half is at odds with the temperament of the second half.
Ultimately though, O.A.R. are a tight band. They've got a complexity to their sound as well as their orchestration that comes off as easy, and that's a rare accomplishment. They're shooting for the mainstream with this album. Whether or not they make it to Dave Matthews level is anyone's guess, but I would say they do have a shot.
Reviewer: David Fallo
new
Reviewer's Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 6.00
Reader's Votes: 2
Added: 14-Jan-2006
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