Band of the Week

Band of the Week
Bad Religion - Free album download

Unsigned Band of the Week

Unsigned Band of the Week
Coming soon....

Video of the Week

Video of the Week
Metric - Gold Guns Girls

Bandology Pick of the Week

Bandology Pick of the Week
Paper Route - Free song download for charity

#9 - Better Than Ezra - Paper Empire

1/14/10


Artist:  Better Than Ezra
Album:  Paper Empire
Label:  MRI/Megaforce Records
Release Date:  May 12th, 2009

Yes, this is the same 1990's Better Than Ezra that brought you the multi-platinum album Deluxe and gold album Friction, Baby.


Paper Empire debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #62 which was their highest position since 1995's Deluxe album re-release by Elektra Records which hit #35 and sold over 2 million copies.  Deluxe is also the #1 selling album of all-time with ADA distribution.

Paper Empire was recorded by Warren Huart who also did the latest album by The Fray.  He is also credited with producing/engineering Augustana's sophomore album and American Idol 2009 winner, Kris Allen.

There is something about those 90's alt rock bands.  They know how to convey the perfect emotion into their lyrics and songs that make you almost miss feeling sad.  As Kurt Cobain once sang, "I miss the comfort in being sad."  You know what?  I agree and this album gives you some of that sadness brought on by relationships without being "emo."


The album starts off with Kevin Griffin's signature deep, calming vocals with Absolutely Still which was my #1 most listened to song of 2009 (according to my Lastfm.com account).  This is a prime example of how a song could be one of the best songs of 2009 but not have the sales numbers to back it up.  Absolutely Still is that signature emotional song that you tend to listen to when you found "the one."  The song that you listen to when you're together and the song you listen to after you broke up to remember the good feelings of being with "the one".  As the lyrics point out, "promise me you'll never leave this room....a million years  from now would be too soooooon."

Other songs that bring you back to that 90's emotional feel are Turn Up The Bright Lights, FitThe Loveless, Hey Love and their current TV spun song Just One Day.

But then you got the opposite, almost surprising, side of Better Than Ezra on their songs Nightclubbing, Hell No! and All In.  It's a side of them having fun and going outside of their music playing box.  I can almost hear Forever The Sickest Kids doing a cover of Nightclubbing and you would swear it was their own.


Overall, I was really surprised with this album because I wasn't expecting a lot.  This band has been around for almost 22 years but has remained current with amazing songwriting.  It's hard to expect a creative album from a band that wasn't very creative with their band name.  When playing a Battle Of The Bands in 1988, they had to come up with a name for the competition.  They asked the promoter what was the name of the band that played before them.  They were told it was Ezra.  So they decided to call themselves Better Than Ezra.  The rest is history.

This album is great for the new Better Than Ezra fan and for the old fan of Deluxe and Friction, Baby.  It's fun, emotional and downright good.

Listen to my #1 most played song of 2009 on the LaLa.com player below.


5 comments:

Tim said...

I remember when their song King Of New Orleans was being played on the radio a lot in the mid-90's. They had a lyric that said "he loved the girls and he loved the boys" which was about a kid doing tricks to make money. And the song sounded so beautiful lol

This band has always been a band's band. Never got the big publicity of the other 90's alt rock bands but they influenced a lot of the bands that came after them.

January 14, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...

I am really enjoying the song Absolutely Still. I think Better Than Ezra may have a new, old fan. ;)

January 16, 2010 at 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...

What will get finished first?... 2009 album of the year list or 2010 list

February 28, 2010 at 6:03 PM
Anonymous said...

Tim, you should get help...

March 2, 2010 at 6:17 PM
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