Parents' Pick #2: Dream Your Life Away by Vance Joy Revised

This week I found it very difficult to pick an album from my parents’ playlist to discuss. I decided I wanted to pick a more recent album this time, just to change things up a bit. My parents do not really have that many newer artists on their playlist so there was not a lot to choose from but I still found it hard to choose. In the end I decided on Vance Joy’s album Dream Your Life Away, mostly because it is one of my favorites as well plus I’ve also seen him perform live before and even have the album on vinyl.

            James Keogh, or Vance Joy as he is commonly known, is an Australian singer-song writer who has very recently come up on the top charts radar with his first hit “Riptide.” While it is great to start your music career off with a huge hit, Jaymz Clements discussed in his Rolling Stone review of Vance Joy that this creates a challenge for the rest of the album to be just as good. Quite flawlessly, I believe Dream Your Life Away managed to live up to the expectations set from its first single. This album features more big hits such as “Georgia” and “Mess is Mine” and also a lot more of Vance Joy’s signature ukulele. This album is very consistent with an over-all concept of the struggles of growing up in life and in love and bittersweet intimate lyrics.

            The slight variations we find within the songs on this album are not in the concepts or lyrics but rather in the musicality. While most of the songs prominently feature either a ukulele or soft acoustic guitar accompanied by Vance Joy’s muffled, hazy voice, there are a few stand-outs on the album. Take for example the song “Red Eye,” which has a lot more percussion than most of the other songs and a much louder version of Vance Joy’s voice in the chorus along with string instruments, such as a cello and violin. Another song that differs on the album is “Straight into Your Arms” which has a few distinctive synth sounds in the background,  this may seem strange for such an acoustic artist but it is still well received.

            The variations in the musicality really made it difficult for me to figure out what genre I would consider this album to be. Vance Joy could be placed into many categories such as singer-song writer, indie folk, and indie pop. I think it is definitely easy to say this album fits into the genre of indie folk. The album has an obvious folk feel with its soft lyrics and almost country like acoustics, but it definitely leans more towards indie lacking more of the country feel that many folk songs have. I wouldn't totally call it indie pop either because most of the album isn’t very upbeat or mainstream. The one thing that gives this album credibility in the indie pop genre is that many indie pop artists are/could be featured in a commercial or movie or trailer, and Vance Joy has had songs featured in both a movie and commercial. His song “Riptide” was featured in a Go-Pro commercial and his song “Great Summer” was featured in the movie Paper Towns. So I guess you could categorize this album as indie pop, more specifically commercial indie pop.

            However, what made it easier for me to place this album into a genre is where it came from. I never even considered the birthplace of an artist to be influential to the genre of their music, but it definitely is. I never would have noticed this if I had not read Jaymz Clements review that I previously mentioned. In his review, Clements noted that the songs Vance Joy had on this album were songs that artists like Powderfinger and Boy & Bear could have or would have wanted to release. After listening to a few of these two artists’ songs, I definitely did notice connections between them and Vance Joy. While Powdefinger and Boy & Bear definitely lean more towards a rock sound than an acoustic one, the subject of the lyrics is where you notice the most similarity. All of them have such intimate relatable lyrics, there are definitely songs they all have where the musicality is also similar though. Boy & Bear’s song “Southern Sun” could almost be mistaken for a Vance Joy song at the very beginning. It then strays away to sound more rock than acoustic but what I would call the Australian influences are definitely still there.

            So, if I had to specify which genre Vance Joy’s Dream Your Life Away would be placed into, I would call it “Commercial Australian Indie Folk.” While it would fit perfectly into my brand new, made up, melting pot of genres, it also still some how would stand out there too. I mean the album has done so well in the American top charts that it would stand out of the Australian roots as well. Personally I find genre to be very subjective and hard to describe, the well known main genres we already have established are just too broad for things to fit perfectly into them.

            In a genre such as indie, with such a large variety of sounds and artists, it can be hard to describe a particular artists roots within it. But, after looking more closely at Vance Joy's album and sound, it was obvious to see where he both did and did not fit in. At the end of the day though, Vance Joy has released an extremely strong and consistent album for it being his debut album, and I think my parents would agree with me on that too!

Parents' Pick #1: The Stranger by Billy Joel Revised

My first review is about an album featured heavily in both my mom and dad’s playlists: The Stranger by the one and only Billy Joel. In most reviews of Joel’s work it seems as though the majority of the review was written to critique him. But, you have to give Joel credit seeing as he has not released a new album since 1993 yet he still manages to sell out Madison Square Garden 12 times in 2014. While, I do see where some people would find his melodies a bit over done or tacky, I personally like them. I think his hits such as “Piano Man” and “Captain Jack” are catchy and fun, and some of the songs on his album The Stranger are no exception to this, but a few songs are. In a classic Joel song I often get a bit of a Broadway feel, with large flashy choruses that you just can’t get out of your head. But, with a few of the songs on this album that aspect is missing. For example, the song “She’s Always a Woman” is a softer song than most of Joel’s and lacks the over the top melodies and choruses of his normal hits. While it is a small difference in Joel’s work, it is definitely a noticeable one.

Another difference with this album compared to Joel’s previous records is that The Stranger is a lot more consistent. Rather than having one distinctive hit such as “Piano Man” and “Captain Jack,” instead there are multiple well selling tracks. Many could argue that this album was actually Joel’s best album in his career. The album was selected as Album of the Year in 1977 and reached the #2 spot in the U.S album charts; Also, the album became Columbia Records’ best selling album at the time. Joel humbly credits much of the album’s success to Phil Ramone who produced the album and suggested Joel take it down a notch on some of the songs.

 An interesting thing about this album is that it really doesn’t have a general concept for as a whole. There is no bigger picture or story told throughout the album, however many of the songs do present their own individual stories. The first song on the album, “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s song),” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” both tell the stories of named characters working through hardships in their lives and making big decisions. The songs “Vienna” and “Only the Good Die Young” are also in the form of stories focusing on examining life. Personally I like the variation in the stories told within each song, it keeps things interesting, you are not stuck listening to 9 songs in a row all about the same thing. Plus, the variation means that this album has something for everyone, whether you want a slow love song or a fast paced inspirational song to get your motivation level up, you can find whatever it is on this album, one of the reasons I think its perfect for both my parents and me to listen to!  

Honestly if you like Billy Joel I really don’t think there is a song you should avoid on this album, it really is his most consistent album in that it does not have any weak spots, and personally none of the songs get old after a while. I would be able to tell you if they did seeing as I’ve listened to the album at least 70 times in the past week, in fact I’m listening to it while I’m writing this review, and I still love it just as much as the first one. The 30^th anniversary version of this album also includes a second CD featuring live performances of both the songs on this album and from other albums as well, which if I do say so myself sound just as fantastic as the recorded versions. My personal favorites on the album are definitely “Vienna,” mostly because I connect with the lyrics a lot, and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” because the restaurant part of the song reminds me of my Italian grandmother. My least favorite song on the album would probably be “Get it Right the First Time,” but mostly because I find the flute at the end of the chorus a little weird personally. But do not take it from me, definitely check the album out yourself if you haven’t already and if you like it as much as I do awesome, if not that’s fine too!