Imagine This
Imagine This
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
Imagine This is a band with some fresh ideas and tight musicianship. "Revolution" has plenty of spunk and R&B sassy grooves. The guitar leads from Daryl Youngblood sound akin to the wailing of Tony Palacios and Nuno Bettencourt. This high-quality jamming can be heard underneath many of the songs here. This musical strength could also be said to be a mixing weakness -- this jamming ought to be high atop the mix, knocking you against the back wall or at least blowing your mind.
"Word To The World" reveals one of the true directions of this band -- commercial pop rock. This band excels in the White Heart arena rock sound, yet plays it too soft to keep a sweating, headbanging crowd listening. "I Can't" features Daryl using a subdued effect on his vocals that make this uptempo popper a little cooler. The psychedelic harmonizer returns on "Now Is The Time" to lend an outside source to this formulaic tune. This Beatlesque approach adds the life to make the song's low energy enjoyable. "God" has the wonderful King's X/Beatles harmonies flavor. To me, this is the best song, because it's true to its style direction. "Bishop of Souls," has a power ballad feel that really throbs and works, and is probably the next best cut. "The Reason" is another ballad accompanied by classical guitar. The harmonies here with the other background vocalists don't quite jell properly, though.
"Feel The Heat" starts off with some studio chatter and jumps into a nice 'n' loud groove that joins a rap delivery. This is a big sound that rocks real well. "In You" starts off with a news segment sample along with a cadence drum roll. This one is a "roll the car windows down and drive" tune. This would be a great CHR radio single.
For a band that believes in revolutions, they sure didn't go as close to a hard edge as this reviewer would like; but will bring a broad range audience lots of reasons to smile.