The Prom
Under the Same Stars

Grade:

C

Sometimes in music, the ability of the artist as a musician is ahead of the ability of the artist as a singer. Usually when this happens, it means that the album is of sub-par quality.

Although the former is true for The Prom, the music being played is far superior to the lyrics being sung and the problem of the latter is avoided.

Under the Same Stars is a good album and had the potential to be a great one.

The quality of the music comes through on the first track. Echoing early Elton John and other piano pop greats, "(An Introduction to) ÎUnder the Same Stars'," is concert-worthy in and of itself. As soon as the lyrics begin, however, there is a slight drop-off in quality.

It's not clear why the drop-off, however slight, occurs. If the lyrics in Stars occurred with a lesser quality of music, then it wouldn't be noticeable. All the songs in the album have adequate, if not good, lyrics. But when coupled with the masterful melodies, the lyrics pale.

That minor qualm aside, Stars is a great listen. So much of today's music and the "musicians" that perform it concern themselves with appearance and not with how their music sounds. It's refreshingly old-fashioned to hear a band that works hard on its music and has results to show.

With more polished lyrics, The Prom has the potential to be listed with the greats. Without, they still put out a quality product that is worth listening to.

-Paul Iiams-

Carissa's Weird
Songs about Leaving

Grade:

D-

Everybody that ever has, or ever will, listen to music has an opinion about it. They have their likes and dislikes and usually let those feelings be known, usually to someone that is listening to the offensive music.

As a music critic, I am supposed to be impartial. Sure, I have my own collection of CDs at home and have a certain type of music that I like to listen to on a regular basis. If you have read my reviews (which of course you have), you may realize that certain types of music I tend to give better grades than others.

That being said, I have never been more annoyed or frustrated by an album than I am by Songs about Leaving.

Despite fairly good musical accompaniment, which by the way was the only reason the album received any stars, the sounds that come out of the singers mouths are beyond belief. Imagine if you will the top five worst singers in the world. Come on, you know you can think of some. Then combine those voices and voila! Carissa's Weird.

It's unfortunate that the music is pretty good. To truly hate an album, one has to hate every aspect of it. But the music on the album is just good enough to make me that much angrier.

With comical titles like "So You Want to be a Superhero" and "Sofisticated Fuck Princess Please Leave me Alone," you might think that the songs would be cool and fun.

But, you would be wrong, very wrong.

-Paul Iiams-