Fraying at the Seams (How To Save A Life - The Fray)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	How To Save A Life - The Fray
Date:	08/02/08 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 'How To Save a Life' and 'Over My Head' are excellent tracks.

Disadvantages: Most of the album is highly disappointing.

The Fray are a four-piece American Indie Rock band from Denver, Colorado. They formed in 2002, released this album in 2005 and have another due out at some stage in 2008. The piano is a heavy focus of their music, at the very forefront of their sound and something that they use very much to their advantage. It is the piano in the music of The Fray that drives the music forward and makes the band stand out from the crowd. The bands most commercially successful single so far has been the albums title track 'How To Save a Life', a track that sold well all around the world and is definitely my favourite from their 'How To Save a Life' album.

Whilst there will be plenty that disagree with me, I actually found this album from The Fray to be extremely hit and miss. I feel that there are a number of tracks which are greatly impressive, but at the same time there are many others that simply wash over me without leaving any sort of a lasting impact whatsoever. 'All at Once' for example is one in particular that I find to be rather tiresome. The music borders on boring, and the band fail to inject any life into their performance whatsoever. It just seems completely devoid of passion, and how anyone could possibly enjoy listening to the track is completely beyond me. That said, I do realise that there are some that feel that every track from The Fray on this album is excellent, so perhaps there is something that I'm missing here; I just can't see it.

I said before that 'How To Save a Life' was my favourite from this album, and the truth is that despite the fact that I find much of this album to be rather bland, this track is actually up there amongst my favourite songs from recent years. There is just something about it that makes it stand out to me, something that has many times had me place the track on repeat and listen to it over and over again. The track hit the Top 10 all around the world, and I think that this just goes to show exactly how universal this one is and how excellent a track it truly is. The piano presence is excellent, the vocals come soaring through at all times, and the drums provide the most wonderful of back beats. Put simply, 'How To Save a Life' as a track is virtually flawless and truly is the crowning glory from this album.

'Over My Head' is not in the same league at all as 'How To Save a Life', but it is definitely one that is worth noting also. This track possesses an exceptionally addictive quality about it, a track that will have you singing along in no time and thoroughly enjoying. It builds and it builds, eventually reaching its climax in time for one final blast of its finely infectious chorus. It is a powerful track and is one that I wholeheartedly recommend you listen to if you have not done so already. 'Look After You' is perhaps the next best track from the album, it is slow paced but poignant and effective. One thing that is always striking about The Fray is their lyrics, and this one is a great example of this. The band are devout Christians and this is something that comes across heavily in their lyrics, they clearly have strong beliefs in Christianity and thus this is the main focus of their music. The Christian nature of the band goes a long way in explaining the album title of 'How To Save a Life'

For the most part I feel that this début album from The Fray is a massive let down, and aside from a couple of moments of inspiration is really rather bland and forgettable. I had great expectations when I first listened to this album as the tracks 'How To Save a Life' and 'Over My Head' had really impressed me beforehand, but when I listen all I feel is disappointment. The Fray clearly have a lot of potential given the impressive nature of some of their music, but this album just lacks any sort of consistency and is rather lacklustre and tiresome on the whole. If you were impressed by either of their lead singles, don't make the mistake I did and expect the whole album to be of this same high level of excellence as this really isn't the case at all. The album packs a lousy punch, is mainly filler, and sounds in the main like Coldplay on a bad day. It has to be said that this album is one to avoid really as with each and every track that passes I just find myself getting more and more bored and praying for the end to come. I believe it's not a great album at all, but having sold over 2 million copies in the US alone it can quite easily be seen that there are a lot of people out there that disagree with me. Like them or loathe them; they're a successful band and will face a difficult time living up to the expectations of some when they release their difficult second studio album later this year.

Summary: Although the band show great signs of promise, their début album is an overall disappointment.