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
I LOVE "Do It For You" (and once literally almost drove off the road because I got so excited when it came on the radio...I'm a better driver than that makes me sound ;) ) but only bought that song from iTunes without listening to anything else from them. Some of the comparisons you make here, though, have me intrigued.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I may just steal your Imeem-stream-embedded-in-the-post strategy!
Glad you like the change in my song posting scheme ... working out pretty well for me, at least until imeem doesn't have an artist I want to write about, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
ReplyDeleteOne comparison I was going to make with BHB is to BBMak, specifically their second album -- they came to mind briefly during the listen but then promptly few out of my brain, as things tend to do these days...!
-T