Ballas Hough Band

BALLAS HOUGH BAND
"BHB"
(Hollywood, 2009)


I've never watched "Dancing With The Stars", so the names Mark Ballas and Derek Hough have never had any significance to me. In that respect, I didn't have any emotional investment in this album before hearing it. Nonetheless I was a bit disappointed at first, but only because, with the word "Band" in their name, I was expecting something a bit more rock and a little less pop out of them. That's not to say that I dislike the album; it just took me a bit longer to warm up to it. Funny how your expectations can alter your perception, isn't it?

The Ballas Hough Band (Shouldn't there be a hyphen or slash in between those, since it's two last names and not one person's full name? Anyway....) demonstrate pretty well on this album that they're not just a couple of pretty faces who parlayed their proverbial 15 minutes on a dancing show into a recording contract they wouldn't otherwise have gotten. Arguably they might not have landed a major-label imprint like Hollywood Records without their "DWTS" notoriety, but that's beside the point. I'm having a bit of trouble telling Mr. Ballas' and Mr. Hough's voices apart, assuming they share lead vocal duties, but that's not a major complaint since I find the vocals enjoyable.

Once I got past the realization that this "Band" isn't quite so much The Script or Maroon 5 as much as they are a high-gloss, more-pop-than-power take on The Click Five, I was able to appreciate the fact that they actually make some enjoyable tunes. And I grant you, it's not all pop ... yes, "Do It For You" sits firmly in the contemporary-R&B category, and "She Was The One" is equally unlikely to win over fans of Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen ... but alternatively, "Fall" is a blast of crunchy guitar that sounds like The All-American Rejects with a dash of Black-Eyed Peas, and "Devastated" also brings on a bit of the rock ... "Underwater" is a surprisingly atmospheric closing song, and the female backing vocals add a nice touch to the harmony on songs like the nice ballad "Longing For". Bottom line: don't expect anything groundbreaking or otherwise worthy of Grammy consideration, but if you like ear-candy that's a blend of rock and pop, you can expect to be entertained.

Together Faraway - Ballas Hough Band

Breaking News: Here Comes Da Judge!

As if I needed any more reason to watch "American Idol" next season -- Ellen DeGeneres announces on her show today (and officially broke the news just hours ago) that she is being brought on board as the fourth regular judge on the "Idol" panel, to fill the vacancy left by Paula Abdul when she announced her departure last month. With the passion she has shown for "Idol" on her daytime talk show -- talking about the week's performance round at nearly every opportunity, and bringing almost every departing finalist onto her show as a guest -- as well as her passion for music in general, I have a hard time thinking of a more suitable person to sit on the judges' panel.

Notice I said "suitable", and not "qualified". That's the only problem I have with Ellen becoming an "Idol" judge: she'd be the only one on the panel who doesn't have a professional background in the music business. All of the other three judges have worked as producers, with Kara also having extensive experience as a songwriter and a singer, and Randy as a studio and touring musician with countless music acts. Don't get me wrong ... I'm otherwise totally jazzed about Ellen being on "Idol" ... I'm just worried about how everyone else will accept her, particularly because of this notable lack of actual experience in the music industry.

Will she be funny? Of course. Will she know what she's talking about? As long as she sticks to what she knows and doesn't pretend to know more than she does (in other words, if she speaks from the perspective of a passionate music fan, and also provides feedback from her experience as a performer trying to entertain an audience), and I don't think we'll have to worry about Ellen coming off as fake. So ... bring on the new season of "Idol"!

Tyrone Wells

TYRONE WELLS
"REMAIN"
(Universal Republic, 2009)


I can only assume that Tyrone Wells is one of those artists that I was destined to get turned onto. I had picked up his 2007 major label debut, "Hold On", a year or so ago, but for some reason didn't cotton to it at first. Fast-forward to early this year, when I happened upon a promo CD of his "More" single in the freebies box at the local record shop. I found the song enjoyable, and around the same time, blogger Entirely Random (a terrible shame that you post so sporadically, Random!) posted a YouTube video of him performing the song. Obviously, Fate was trying to tell me something, so I picked up his sophomore CD, "Remain", shortly thereafter. Fate must have known what it was doing, 'cause it turns out I like this guy a lot more now than I ever thought I would.

Tyrone Wells doesn't stray much here from the singer-songwriter-folk-pop-rock sound he established on his debut, and far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. The lyrics may be more introspective or soul-searching than on his first album, but you can't help but come away from the album feeling uplifted, since the songs are mostly still dressed in appealingly tuneful hooks -- be they strong (the radio-worthy upbeat cuts "In Between The Lines" and "Along The Way") or subtle (the spiritually-minded ballad "All Broken Hearts" and the fragile closer "Together").

His rich, somewhat husky voice might sound a bit too much like Chris Martin in some places (especially when his songs take on a bit of a Coldplay feel, like in "Losing Ground" or "Drifting"), but the similarity is entirely coincidental. Tyrone Wells is an original, talented, and enjoyable artist in his own right, and I just hope this album gets him noticed, like he deserves to be.

Before It Started - Tyrone Wells