CD of the Week: The Shore

THE SHORE
"THE SHORE"
(Maverick, 2004)

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but there's always an exception to every rule. Take this CD, for example -- the image of dancing watercolors around a pastoral woodland accurately evoke the sound of this album: an equal blend of '60s psychedelia and '90s Britpop wherein the swirling guitars and echoey soundscapes dovetail to form the backbone of their sound. The irony is that this is a 21st-Century band from the United States (although their California origins do come through somewhat as well).

The album starts out with a slow, somber dirge ("Hard Road"), but soon picks up momentum, taking on an evenly paced mix of upbeat and downbeat tracks. Highlights include the hopeful "Waiting For The Sun", the swaying rocker "It Ain't Right", the buoyant ballad "I'll Be Your Man", and what has become one of my top dozen favorite songs of all time, the anthemic "Everything We Are" (if you buy only one song from this album, make it that one!).

Some of the songs might sound samey, but then if the whole album is this good, then it's not necessarily a bad thing. The sweet-and-sour voice of lead singer and chief songwriter Ben Ashley complements the band's sound perfectly, helping carry the album through a quick 46 minutes. Word has it that The Shore are still together, looking for a new record label. I sure hope so, 'cause I hate to think that this is all we'll ever hear from them.