Howie Day
Australia
On Sale Now
For $7.68

Howie Day, the man who looks like he's just been electrocuted. He's made a name for himself and his new Austrailia cd by tirelessly touring this country, playing in stores and on campuses. In fact you can see him open up for Tori Amos now. Howie, you've made it.

I bought the cd on the recommendation of a good friend who raved about him. It is a 10-track acoustic cd that only occasionally reaches my cd player. There are about 5 solid songs on the record, the best of which is by far track 5, "Ghost". It sounds like a song played in the dark, oddly romantic. It's a song meant to be listened to on a rainy day driving in your car. It has immediately become one of my all-time favorites. "Ghost" alone makes the cd worth buying. Other favorites from the cd are track 2-"She Says", Track 9-"Morning After", and Track 10-"Disco". I especially like track 9 which starts out "calcutta streams from porchlight flare/we opened up our party gift/and you fell down the stairs on purpose/and you drive to europe in the rain/your hair's done up but no one's gonna see/well maybe you should drive me home, home". Okay, that doesn't make a lick of sense, but that's what makes great lyrics! No one has ever heard a word Bob Dylan has said but he's a rock God. Austrailia's strengths: lyrics and slow songs.

You'll note that the songs I preferred were slower acoustic songs while the ones I don't particularly like are louder and more rough. I think in an effort to diversify his style he's attempted to stretch his vocals beyond their reach in those songs. Howie is at his best when he lets his voice do the talking, so to speak. Keep in mind that this is his first release and the cd left me excited about the next one. You can tell an artist like this is no one-hit wonder. Heck, you've probably never even heard one hit! He just needs some polishing.

Okay, so time for the curve-ball. To this point i've been entirely subjective, but there is something about Howie Day I've been keeping from you. I had the opportunity to drive up to Philadelphia and see Howie Day in a Border's Book Shop by Villanova. It was packed to the brim with rich, preppy co-ed's excited to see the baby-faced man with the crazy hair. On a side note, my friends and I actually saw Howie outside of the store but didn't recognize him. It seems absurd now considering he looks like that worthless MTV V-Jay Jessie. Anyhoo, Howie came out and played only 5 or 6 songs and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The cd pales in comparison to his live performances. He has this system whereby he is able to record and loop his own riffs, beats and background vocals in front of your eyes with nothing more than a guitar and foot pedals. I was astonished. After seeing that and getting his autograph, I immediatly had much more respect for the man. I've been to a lot of concerts, but I had never seen anything like that.

In the end, at only $7.69 at ModernRock.com, I would have to say that cd is definitely worth picking up. However, if you get the opprtunity to see him live, DO IT! That is an offical order. If I had to rate Howie Day "Austrailia" on a scale of 5 Aussie animals, i'd give the cd 1 kangaroo, 1 koala, and 1 wallabee.

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