Lifehouse Album: “Stanley Climbfall”

Stanley Climbfall shows more lyrical maturity than Lifehouse's freshman effort, No Name Face, but I must warn you: it took several listens to grow on me. These songs required a few days to breathe before they took on a life of their own, unlike Trying and Sick Cycle Carousel from their first release.

The album opens up with the smash radio single, Spin, a driving alterna-pop tune which eases up on the momentum for a tedious bridge before diving back into the electric guitar hooks that lend this song its edge. This is followed by Wash, a melodically monotonous song heavy on repeating some of the most uncreative lyrics of this record: "you wash over me, you wash over me like rain. you wash over me, you wash over me like sunshine." Luckily for all Lifehouse fans, the album quickly improves.

Wade leads us into Sky is Falling with understated, well-crafted opening lines, and all is well with the world. Anchor turns up the intensity with an electric introduction, easing the listener between melodic channels and an athemic chorus, while the verses of Am I Ever Gonna Find Out stand out as an album highlight. Title track Stanley Climbfall abandons the usual Lifehouse formula to experiment in gently flowing, melancholy leads, a dreamy chorus, and the playful tweaking of "stand, climb, and fall" to bring us the record's protagonist, oddly-named everyman Stanley. Fans in a subdued mood will be hard-pressed to avoid singing along on the "da da das" before Out of Breath returns them to more familiar Lifehouse territory.

Just Another Name is a personal favorite, starting with a kicky rhythm guitar before bringing in the rest of the band on this tribute to the artificiality of the social games of popularity and fame. "Which mask will you wear today?" Wade inquires. "Everybody knows your name, but they don't know whho you are." In the hands of others, this song could become a melancholy rejection of the world, but Lifehouse turns it into an atypical but highly enjoyable up-tempo track.

Take Me Away reintroduces the lush guitar arrangements that have become the band's calling card on the radio circuit, granting die-hard No Name Face fans a breath of their old Lifehouse before the European influences of My Precious and the humdrum verses and uplifting chorus of Empty Space. Space gruadually unwinds the tension before the album's lullabye, The Beginning. Bonus tracks How Long and an acoustic version of Sky Is Falling close out the record.

All in all, Stanley Climbfall is good, well-crafted, and cunningly produced. It isn't another No Name Face, but it wasn't meant to be. It has an artistic vision all its own. Still, the unremarkability of Wash, Empty Space, and certain parts of other tracks bring it down to four stars. Quite the respectable sophomore release.

Lifehouse has literally struck the chords of my life again with their new cd, Stanley Climbfall. The lyrics in every song relate to life in every way and for every person. Wade's voice is perfect for the words he sings, and for the instrumentals in the background.

Stanley Climbfall has 12 new songs from Lifehouse that I instantly began to favor. Although some more than others, I am sure to come around to the songs I've yet to listen to a lot. My favorites right now are Spin, Out of Breath, Just Another Name, Take Me Away, Precious, and Am I Ever Gonna Find Out.

Just like No Name Face, Stanley Climbfall has soft, meaningful ballads; songs that make you happy with life; and power songs that speak meaningful truth. Lifehouse has now proven they're here to stay with this great, great cd.

I was so skeptical of this one. I think NNF is one of the most amazing albums I own, and I didn't think they could even come close to touching that one. Well they did fall short a little teeny bit (none of these songs even come close to "Everything"), but overall this album is still incredible. I'll break it down track by track:

1. SPIN- this was the first single. I really like the song a lot, it's catchy and has a hard edge. But for some reason the lyrics remind me of "Hanging By A Moment" a lot...

Overall, I don't think you can go wrong with this one. Jason Wade has such an emotional voice and such a talent for writing. You need this record!

The boys of Lifehouse were left with quite a daunting task when they began recording their second album, the follow up to the multi-platinum debut "No Name Face" which included the most played song of the year 2001, "Hanging By A Moment." Lead singer Jason Wade penned most of the tunes for "Stanley" on the tourbus between shows. The result is a finely crafted piece of rock and roll melted together with dashes of adult contemporary and pop music. The cd plays out like this:

1. Spin- 8/10 rating

2. Wash- 7/10 rating

3. Sky Is Falling- 8/10 rating

4. Anchor- 6/10 rating

5. Am I Ever Gonna Find Out- 7/10 rating

6. Stanley Climbfall- 10/10 rating

7. Out Of Breath- 8/10 rating

8. Just Another Name- 6/10 rating

9. Take Me Away- 10/10 rating

10. My Precious- 6/10 rating

11. Empty Space- 9/10 rating

12. The Beginning- 9/10 rating

13. How Long- 9/10 rating

14. Sky Is Falling (Acoustic)- 8/10 rating

Overall, this is a marvelous cd from the boys of Lifehouse. Although they may not garner as much airplay with any of these songs as they did with the freakishly popular smash "Hanging by a Moment," this cd will get its share of radio hits and will help further the career of these talented musicians.

Lifehouse is beyond spectacular. I haven't stopped listening to it since it came out on September 17th.

Highlights of the CD:

Spin, Out of Breath and Take Me Away. Those are just the ones that really stand out. The whole CD from beginning to end is superb. This will be in my CD player for a while.