Hi, my name is Matt King and you probably know more about music than I do.  Whew, aren’t you glad we got that out of the way?  It would have just been the elephant in the room the whole time you were reading this review.  The fact of the matter is, I’ve been singing my whole life, sang for four years in an a cappella group, and even directed for two.  But I know jack about theory.  I won’t be able to tell you if the altos were a little pitchy on the bridge or if the tenors have a tendency to go a half note sharp.  But that’s the beauty of this.  I’m a man of the people, for the people.  I speak for the common man.  Most people out there don’t really need to know that sort of thing.  Most people want to hear “man, this album is great, you need to hear this,” or “I don’t need a coaster, I have this CD.”  I can tell you if I think a song or an album is cool and why.  Think of me as your buddy that has these albums and tells you whether or not he thinks they’re worth a buy.

For my first review, I’ll be taking on Rutgers Casual Harmony’s self titled album, one of the albums on the new CARA Shortlist.  So some of the top minds* in a cappella say it’s one of the top albums of the year, but what do I think about it?  That’s the big question here.  So let’s get started by breaking down the songs individually.

*probably just Deke Sharon, but his opinion is all that counts anyway.

1. I’ve Got To Use My Imagination
AKA – the BOCA track.  It’s not hard to see why this was included on BOCA.  The soloist is fantastic.  He’s got soul to spare.  It’s not a song that requires him to go wailing on some high notes, which he doesn’t need to.  He stays right in his wheelhouse and knocks it out of the park.   The background of the song isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s solid, fun, and it lets the soloist do his thang. That’s right, thang.  And he does it.

2. Paralyzer
On about my eighth listen to this song, kind of in the background, I realized that I was bobbing my head.  Not just a little bit, but really getting into the song without really paying much attention to it.  That sums up this song perfectly.  It’s got great energy and it does kind of make you want to dance, which is saying something for me.  I don’t dance.

3. Stereo
I had never heard this song before, but as soon as the soloist started singing I immediately said to myself “Gotta be a John Legend song.”  He has the tone down perfectly.  Probably one of the best Legend covers I’ve heard, if not the best. 

4. Iris
This is the song that grew on me the most from this album.  By the end of the song, the background swells and has some really great chords and additions to the song that really add to the original version.  And after a great John Legend impersonator the track before, this soloist does a bang up job of making the song his own. He doesn’t try to sound like the Goo Goo Dolls singer, and he manages to give a fresh take on a song that we’ve all heard plenty of times.

5. Stay
I don’t like Dave Matthews, but I really like this song.  I listened to the album first without looking at who the original artists were, and I would have never guessed this was a Dave song.  The soloist does another great job of not trying to copy the sound of the original artist (borderline impossible), instead he gives it a poppy kind of a spin that really works.  It’s a fun song.  It reminds me of the Bubs covering Phish on their Shredding album.  Not a song I would normally listen to from a pretty instrumental band, but they pull it off and I dig it.

6. The Sun
I know I have a tendency to focus on soloists, but really isn’t that the focal point of the song?  If the background rocks and the soloist sucks, the song suffers.  Casual Harmony has great soloists.  This one was interesting, though. It sounded like the singer was covering Justin Timberlake covering Maroon 5.  Does that make any sense?  That’s not to say he wasn’t really good, he pulls of the necessary falsettos handily and portrays the right amount of cool for this song. As for the background ... appropriately funky.  Another head bobber.

7. Jeremy
This song is great from top to bottom. Classic rock songs (can you call a song from 1992 classic?  I’m going to for this review’s sake) can be some of the hardest genres to capture the feeling, and this track nails that feeling. The soloist gives it his all and fares just about as well as one could hope covering Pearl Jam.  This is right up there with Iris as far as songs that grew on me throughout listening.

8. Existentialism On Prom Night
This is a catchy song that seems to be a popular one for a cappella groups to cover.  There’s nothing really spectacular about it, but it’s really solid and it’s a nice change of pace slowing things down just a little bit.
 
9. Crazy
This was the one rare misstep for the album.  I appreciated the new intro, but there was something about this song that just rubbed me the wrong way.  When I heard the original my first thought was “this is going to make a badass a cappella song,” but this just wasn’t it.  The soloist does his best, but he doesn’t quite pull it off, and the background just seemed too bouncy for me.  I skip this one almost every time I listen to the album.

10. Sober
About two second into this track, you know you’re in for a great rock song.  The bass is thumping and then the guitar effects come screeching in and bring the song up to an immediate crescendo and then back down again.  The soloist channels his inner rocker and growls his way through most of the song in a way that works just enough.  This is definitely one of my favorite tracks, quite possibly my favorite.

11. Stronger
If you think about it, 8 of 11 songs with one word titles is just impressive.  Right to the point.  This song does about as good of a job on the background of “Stronger” as anyone could hope.  It’s electronic, but vocal enough that you know the whole time that it’s a cappella.  The beat and bass rocks the whole time through.  The soloist tackles this song with a great amount of gusto that I appreciate.  If you can sound like an actual rapper, I have to give you props.  Although, as with The Sun, this actually sounds like he’s covering Ja Rule covering Kanye.  It doesn’t quite go down with the smoothness of our generation’s Elvis. Still, it’s a great closing track and a fitting closing to a hard-driving, upbeat album.

I would score this album an 8.5 out of 10.  It’s fun to listen to, it has repeat listenability, it’s mixed fantastically, and it has great soloists.  On the flip side, there just weren’t any moments on the album where I had to grab someone I knew and say “you have to listen to this.”  That’s the mark of a great a cappella album, in my mind.  Those moments when I crank up a certain part, sit back, and remember why I love a cappella in the first place.  Even still, if you do love a cappella, you should own this album.
 
http://www.casualharmony.com/