Freak369's Full Review: All the Right Reasons by Nickelback
I know nothing about Nickelback.
I have no idea where they live, how old they are, their names, other releases or what breakfast cereal they have when on tour.
What I do know is that commercial radio has played “Photograph” to death and it looks like “Animals” will be the next to get pummeled. Morbid curiosity got the best of me when I was at the library and saw that they had a copy of “All The Right Reasons” on the shelf. Most people are shocked to know that libraries carry music, DVD’s, VHS tapes, audio books and computer related media .. yes, they have more than just books there. Still, seeing Nickelback in the stacks was a little unnerving. Throwing caution to the wind I grabbed the case and treated it as I would any other piece of music. I tried to remain open minded when I popped it in the CD player; you can’t blame them for MTV and radio stations for over playing their stuff but you sure as hell don’t see them telling them to stop it. On a sidenote, I do have to admit something. When I heard this group being introduced on the radio I through the name of the group was “Nickel Bag” not Nickelback. Heh, I’d like to see them going through airport security with luggage and carry on items with “Nickel Bag” stickers on them.
Nickelback: All The Right Reasons
Nickelback isn’t exactly what I would call a rock group. They do have some harder edged songs like “Follow You Home” and “Animals” but even those are laced with a watered down feel to them. Suffice it to say that these guys have talent but it’s masked behind a generic sound for mass appeal. When you are listening to tracks like “Side of A Bullet” you can almost feel their true sound being held back - like the producer was sitting in the booth telling them that they need to tone it down in order to get over with the crowd. That, in a nutshell, is what this CD is all about - like those sticky fumblings in the backseat of a car when you are a teen, fifteen minutes until your curfew arrives and so close to scoring a touchdown but something always gets in the way. From what others have told me about the group, this wasn’t always their signature sound and a lot of former fans shouted the words ‘sell out’ before they moved on to greener pastures. Even so, I only have this release to go on.
It’s hard to steer when you’re breathing in my ear
but I got both hands on my wheel
while you got both hands on my gears
There’s a balance between the hard and soft sound of the group, if you haven’t heard the track “Photograph” consider yourself lucky because even my seventy two year old aunt who is partially deaf knows it by heart. For those into the softer side of the group or looking for a weepy track to cry over won’t be disappointed; “If Everyone Cared” and “Far Away” are two that will probably end up seeing commercial radio airwaves or at the very least the theme of some junior high school prom. I won’t slight the group or say that they lack talent, they have some interesting lyrics [provided in the liner notes] but you always have that nagging feeling that they are only scratching the surface of what they are
truly capable of. OK, I have to admit, out of all the tracks on this release, “Far Away” is the one that I like the most.
This time, this place, misused, mistakes
too long, too late, who was I to make you wait?
Just one chance, just one breath
just in case there’s just one left
The Tracks
Follow You Home
Fight For All The Wrong Reasons
Photograph
Animals
Savin’ Me
Far Away
Next Contestant
Side of A Bullet
If Everyone Card
Someone That You’re With
Rockstar
One song that really impressed me was “Rockstar” it has that white trash / dreamer / Kid Rock feel to it but don’t let that scare you off. It’s a simple sounding song with a recessed, stripped down sound to it ala old school Bon Jovi before Jon cut his hair and Richie got whipped by Heather [read: Young Guns soundtrack]. Now, that doesn’t mean that I am going to be rushing out to get the rest of the Nickelback collection, not hardly but I might borrow a few of the older ‘harder’ ones from friends. I really wanted to love or hate this, to have a defined feeling for it but I can’t go to one side or the other. As much as I detest the token love ballad, Nickelback doesn’t go overboard on the candy coated, fake and contrived usual fodder. In fact, when the opening track “Follow You Home”, started I almost fell over. It was a lot stronger than I expected but you have to keep this in mind - until I got this CD I’d only heard two songs from the group so I had no clue what else they had to offer.
The Bottom Line
If you are into groups that walk the line between rock and pop then Nickelback might be worth checking out. If you are going to assume that they have no range outside of “Photograph” then you are going to be missing out on some good music. I won’t go so far as to say that this group is going to win any major awards for this but there’s no doubt that they’ll be able to live off the royalties of it for more than a few years. what really strikes me odd is that this was put out by Roadrunner, one of the biggest names in the rock world [and the former label of Type O Negative]. Perhaps Peter Steele and company saw this release coming and booked off the scene. This is not something that you would have seen Roadrunner putting out five years ago so I have no idea how Nickelback managed to get on the label. This copy wasn’t labeled with a Parental Advisory Warning Sticker but there are a few mild swear words here and there ... nothing to get obsessed about but parents of pre-teens might want to listen to it before they buy it.
On 2005 s ALL THE RIGHT REASONS, the Canadian heavy-rock band Nickelback offers up more of its straightforward, guitar-fueled anthems. The pummeling o...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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