Monday, 09 April 2012 Written by James Ball 'How to Save a Life'. You remember the song. It was all over the charts and the radio about six years ago. The Fray returns to the spotlight with their third released album Scars and Stories.The album was released on February 7, 2012 and with their past two records behind them naturally high expectations accompanied the release. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2012 256 kbps File release of Scars & Stories on Discogs. That song that made grown adults cry. That song with such a huge poignant sentiment engulfing it it was impossible to ignore. You felt dirty for liking it because it was mesmerising and everywhere. Whatever happened to the band that made it? Well, they released a bunch of other singles no-one bought and then an album that actually went Top 10 but no-one remembers, and now they're back for their first full-length since 2009s self-titled collection. First impressions were, quite honestly, those of ambivalence before listening to this record, but I was truly won over by opener and lead single Heartbeat. It's fairly safe, and not especially original. In fact, the introduction could quite easily have been written by Coldplay, and then the rest of it was very Eagles meet Counting Crows, until Coldplay take over again for the chorus, but for some reason best known to the higher powers, it seems to work. Monopoly no cd patch. It's thick and heavy in places, punchy and fresh in others, and catchy in others. It's a good song, and the credit's going where it's due. What was to follow wasn't so good though. Basically, what The Fray do is write made for radio safe rock that is musically fine and is technically sound, but to the listener is generally a bit dull. They don't really do anything new, or exciting or influential. They have weepy slow ones like 'Run For Your Life', and they have more upbeat ones like '1961', and they all somehow manage to sound pretty much the same. ![]() ![]() It's really frustrating listening to this album and try to find something interesting to mention. A heart-jerking lyric, a strong riff, a thirteen minute drum solo. But alas, it was not to be. The Fray are a bit like living in Norfolk, really. Sure it's got it's quaint little towns that few know anything about, and it's got one bit centrepiece city. There's plenty of space there and there's plenty to see, but all in all the whole thing's a little bit flat, and quite frankly, The Fray really need to go back to the drawing board to see why songs like “How to Save a Life” were so well received, while very little else has garnered any real sort of reaction. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you like The Fray, I won't mock or make fun as everyone has the right to like what they want, but I'll be blunt and say that if this were a sandwich, then the meat in the middle is old, stale, and not worth a damn to much more than the bin, while the bread that holds it within is actually warm, fluffy and fresh. The two tracks that bookend this ongoing snooze are actually pretty good. Yeah, I said two. Having already mentioned the opener earlier, Album closer 'Be Still' is a gentle piano-led almost lullaby that opens up the heartstrings a little and quietly puts the album to bed. It's a pretty little track that doesn't do anything too overpowering or out of place, it just keeps the music soft and discreet and the lyrics careful and delicate. Mournful and epic both at the same time, it's not the greatest track ever conceived, but it's a very decent closer. It's nice, for lack of a better term and does mean that the album closes on a positive, which is always a plus when you've dredged through nearly forty minutes of what can only be described, quite frankly, as pretty much middle of the road. So in summary, this album is generally poor. It's got some glimmers of excitement, a couple of tiny flashes of genuine intrigue, but all in all the whole thing is like listening to the musical equivalent of doing the dishes: A bit grimy and mucky, but generally satisfying when it's all over. Scars and Stories? If this album were the story, then it's full of more than its fair share of scars. But we expected that, right? For as much fun as 'Over My Head (Cable Car)' was when we all first heard it, therein lay a few more snoozy 'You Found Me's than any of us could have ever asked for. The Fray aren't a perfect band by any means, but it didn't take that sentence to be written for anybody to understand that. ![]() Yet that's precisely what makes Scars & Stories kind of intriguing. 'Heartbeat', 'The Fighter', and 'Turn Me On' — the album's first three tracks — leap out of the stereo in a way that is quite literally unexpected. All three are upbeat and all three exemplify the one side of the band that might make them worth your time. 'Heartbeat', the album's first single, is as catchy, melodic, and memorable as anything you could possibly hear on the radio today. The chorus's latter half, in which Slade repeats, 'Cause if you love someone / You love them all the same', deems itself impossible to forget no matter how much you might want to. Industrial dynamics jay forrester pdf to jpg free. 'The Fighter', meanwhile, is the most anthemic the band has ever sounded. It's also the most cynical and hopeless, considering the 'Maybe we were meant to be lonely' refrain that shapes the song into a type of doubtful tone most aren't used to hearing come from the Fray. 'Turn Me On' follows by veering into territory some may have previously thought impossible for this four-piece, as Slade slithers his vocals up and down the verses in a manner that can only be described as sexy. Ben Wysocki's groovy drum pattern combines with a surprisingly danceable bass line to create the one thing this pop outfit has seemingly never been able to create before: atmosphere. Unfortunately, the rest of the record is exactly what you might expect. '1961' is a bad kind of simple. The predictable story, with its particularly embarrassing 'two brothers under one nation' line that is so awkward it becomes impossible to not wince after hearing it recited. The mid tempo time signature. The repetitively uninteresting guitar riff. The chorus that is so undistinguished, you don't even know when it comes and goes. And don't forget the overly-breathy vocals the group have become synonymous with. It's all here in all its glory, on not just '1961' but also the faux-edgy 'Here We Are' and the beige waltz that is '48 To Go'. Things become only moderately worthwhile again on 'The Wind', a grand, over-the-top gesture that surprisingly works as the guitars hammer on one chord, allowing the tune to bubble and simmer enough to keep your attention. The track is such a change of pace from the rest of the album that its presence is both welcome and appreciated. The Fray Scars And Stories Album Download![]() 'Rainy Zurich' switches things up, too, as guitarist Joe King takes the lead vocals, and while it would be nice to report a noticeable change in sound, the differences between the two voices are minimal yet noted. Differences that are minimal, yet noted. There's a phrase that applies almost perfectly to Scars & Stories. The Fray never asked to be your favorite band. ![]() In fact, the Fray never even asked to be your mother's favorite band. And while this record continues to prove that even they could probably admit that the latter is way more possible these days than the former, you can't blame the quartet for veering out into territory they have yet to explore here. Scars & Stories isn't going to be the best album you hear this year, we all know that. But what we do know now -- as a result of the considerably more feisty nature of this record -- is that the Fray aren't planning on going away anytime soon, regardless of what you might think of them, and regardless of which television medical drama they decide to attach themselves to next.
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