Dewdrops

Ashton Allen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: LiveWire
• ASIN: B000B66GY2
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,070 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, December 21, 2005

By 

EndMusicSnobbery "EMS" (Atlanta GA - US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dewdrops (Audio CD)

One of my favorites of the year. Smart songwriting, nice melodies. Comparisons to other artists (Smith, Drake, etc) are warranted and time will tell if Allen measures up to those guys.

Buy it. You'll like it. I swear.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dewdrops tradition, November 28, 2005

By 

McWilliams (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dewdrops (Audio CD)

Ashton Allen's Dewdrops is a powerful yet subtle insight into a world most can only speculate. It is like reading a good book chalked full of tragedy, hope, innocents, and a romantic tone that can only be translated through Ashton's soft yet intense vocals. This is only his debut and it is a masterpiece so don't even know what to expect from Ashton Allen in the future. Enjoy the ride.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Evaporating dewdrops, November 17, 2005

By 

Edward Brown "clinging on to bottles" (Kelowna, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dewdrops (Audio CD)

I was skeptical of this album the moment I heard some of the pre-release buzz floating around. It isn't as though it popped out of thin air and beckoned our curious ears--well, I suppose it is, anything that the press eagerly compares to our lost idols of music (see: Elliot Smith, Nick Drake) will be put to the test by the eager and the wary alike. Not so surprising then, that Ashton Allen's debut album, "Dewdrops", fails to live up it's hype.

It may be true then, that hype itself is the problem here. In so many forms of entertainment these days we see that hype ultimately brings down what it attempts to glorify; It promises every manner of dreams-fulfilled but has this sneaky tendency to shred them apart. It really is hard to live up to being branded and I think Ashton has failed because he made this attempt instead of really being his own entity. Perhaps it was simply the fault of misrepresentation; Whatever the reason, moving on.

He has talent, that much is sure. He does have ability to play his instrument of choice and play it well but the real stumbling block his his lyrical inability. Sure, he can throw together melodies and rhymes but they just don't have power to them. They sound much more like radio-friendly pop than the sorrowful crooning of Drake or the real, true-to-life experiences that Elliot panned out through his music. This music sounds forced, fake and fragile only in that it isn't strong enough to stand up to it's predeccesors.

What this says to me is that Ashton is ready to be heard, just not by the crowd he's being marketed towards. If you dive into this album expecting to feel lifted, moved or otherwise elated then you're most likely in for a shocker--It's like what Adema did to it's genre: It keeps the sound but doesn't have the heart.

There's talent in these dewdrops, sadly it will most likely evaporate away into the morning sun and like many have before, fall prey to the terrible clutches of some marketing 'genius' and his/her view of the music industry.

It is only a debut, however, therefore I look forward to seing the evolution of an artist, despite the shortcomings of these tracks. Here's hoping...