Evans Blue Album: “The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal of Life End”

I have been listening to this CD for alomst 8 weeks now and I have to say I love it. It is currently the soundtrack to my life and each time I hear a song again, I find a different lyric to relate to or beat to rock out to. There is not a bad song on the cd, but the clear favourites are "The Pursuit", "Q", "Kiss the Flag" (Brilliant lyrics - god's not alone anymore!) and "Painted". I was also fortunate enough to purchase the CD with the bonus DVD, making my appreciation for the Evan's Blue message so much greater. The CD will grow on you, just like the first!

In early 2006 I discovered Evans Blue with their debut album, The Melody And The Energetic Nature Of Volume. Every track on the album was memorable, catchy and very unique compared to today's standard alternative rock. It was clear these guys were something special.

Flash forward to March 2007. Via MySpace I learned that Evans Blue was releasing a new album already... In only a little over a year since the debut. I was a bit worried because this seemed like a rushed project (most bands take at least 2 years inbetween albums) and I was afraid the quality would suffer. I heard the single on the radio soon after and to my surprise it was very good and very Evans Blue-ish. Maybe my worries were for nothing?

Well I wasted no time picking this CD up the day it came out and when I popped it in the CD player it was clear that this CD is not as powerful as the debut. There are some hits, don't get me wrong.. Q, Pin-Up and The Pursuit all hit the spot very well. The lyrics are very poetry-like, as the debut was. The distinct guitar is there as well. The album just seems to lack the bite that the debut had... Maybe its because there is no hard hitting song like Cold (but i'm still here), or maybe its just because we've heard this sound before already. All in all I give this CD 4/5 stars, and Evans Blue fans will most certainly enjoy it... but I still can't help but think that something here is missing in the formula

I will start by saying I think Evans Blue is an incredible band. They have some sort of "it" factor in their music. I really hate putting it that way, but their songs are so emotional it really is moving sometimes. Plus the lyrics match the band's sound amazingly well. I guess I have no perfect words to describe Evans Blue and their sound. Lets just say they have something special.

Enough babble about that, well I have listened to "The Pursuit.." for like 4 months straight now, not everyday but a lot, and I cant stop either. The album is solid from track to track in my opinion. I favor songs like Q and The Pursuit, but every song has something to offer. I do agree the albums is similar to the debut, but I dont think that is a bad thing right now. Bands will always be criticized for not changing their sound or ruining their sound, so it a fine line and a pointless argument. Sure I want to hear Evans Blue experiment with future albums, but I dont think this albums suffers because of its similarity to the debut. It is not like they wore out their sound with the debut album and are one hit wonders.

Evans Blue second effort didnt miss a beat after the first album and actually complements the first album. I would recommend both CDs to anyone.

Evans Blue has released their second album in a rather short amount of time from the release of their previous album, however thankfully the music did not suffer at all. In fact I find this album to be slightly superior to their debut. I still think that "Eclipsed" is my top favorite song from their debut, but this album has a far more amount of songs that I enjoy. Among my top favorites are "Q (The Best One Of Our Lives)," "My Damsel: A Confession To An Adversary," "Pin-Up," "Shine Your Cadillac" and "Painted." My only complaint is with "Painted" unfortunately. The song itself is great and one of my favorites, but it goes on for far too long. I enjoy the extended outro up until the shockingly good guitar solo ends at about the 7:30 mark. After that the song takes a horrible downward turn into a bunch of background noise, guitar feedback, chanting and yelling. I could have done without all of that. But otherwise this album is just as good, if not better than their debut and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of modern melodic rock music.

I had been searching forever for this edition of the cd with the bonus dvd. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found it on Amazon. What a bonus that it wasn't expensive! Great dvd from one of my favorite bands!