No Dancing Allowed

Storybox | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 4, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Section 44/HardBite Records
• ASIN: B000UGMZ0C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,792 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a pretty good listen, November 17, 2007

By 

Lesley Aeschliman (Enumclaw, WA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: No Dancing Allowed (Audio CD)

This review was originally written by my husband, Daniel Aeschliman, who has given me permission to post it here:

Storybox is a one-man American synthpop act; Agent D did virtually everything on the disc (except songwriting on one particular track, but we'll get to that). He isn't a newcomer to the music scene though, having previously performed as a part of No You Turn and releasing a solo album as Dave Montana.

The Storybox material is notably different from his previous solo album - where Dave Montana material was more of a straight pop-rock feel, Storybox is clearly modern synthpop. But that isn't to say that this is inferior material. On the first listen to this album, it's fairly clear that Agent D is pretty comfortable experimenting with different aspects of the modern synthpop scene.

The album kicks off with the title song, an epic concept track. The drawback to this track, though, is the length of the intro. We start off with a newscaster speaking over a musical background, then shift into a slow build to the main musical theme of the track. The main vocals don't kick in until the song is almost halfway gone - and most of the three minutes leading to this point is just a painful slog through a slowly layering track. Once the vocals kick in, though, it's a fantastic track; it just takes a bit too long to get there.

After the first two tracks, which are both definitely uptempo tracks, we slow down for a few songs. "Fantasy" is a personal favorite, sounding similar to some of Marc Almond's solo material that I've heard. It's a more "orchestral" sounding track, with a gentle, flowing vocal.

In the middle of the disc, we come across a cover of a classic Beatles song, "Things We Said Today." Most people that know me realize I'm a bit of a rabid Beatles fan. Not nearly as rabid as some folks I've known (I don't care to own the "Anthology 85" discs with Paul brushing his teeth (a "Weird Al" Yankovic reference for those who don't know about it)), but they were the first band I loved. There have been numerous Beatles covers over the years, I've heard quite a few of them, but only a few have been worth comparing to the original Beatles versions.

The one drawback to the Storybox version of "Things We Said Today" is that we lose some of the harmonizing effect. While he has recorded multiple vocal tracks, you cannot completely get past the fact that it's all the same voice. Without some serious vocal processing, certain vocal qualities shine through no matter how you try to disguise your voice, and if you do that level of processing, the resultant vocal sounds eerily unnatural. So the mixing of the vocal textures is missing on this version. Some Beatles fans may have issues with the synthpop approach to the track. However, I personally find it to be one of the better Beatles covers that I've heard.

In the second half of the disc, we have an unlisted and (I guess) officially untitled instrumental track. However, I happened to listen to this disc in a Sony Walkman CD player (remember when they were simply called Discmans if they played CDs?) that can also play MP3 CDs. The significance of this detail about the player is that it can also display CD-TEXT information - which is usually song title, artist name, and album title. I've made audio CDs from MP3s in my collection and discovered the ID3 tag information included on the disc as CD-TEXT. Anyway, this hidden track displays as "Kapitel I" (or something like that). This is a very ambient-sounding piece, rather experimental in nature. It leads into one of the strangest sections on the disc - "Dream Ghosts" and "Therapy".

We basically end up with a three-song experimental set in the middle of a rather pop-oriented synthpop album. I have to admit that this section did bog me down a bit. It's not necessarily bad - I think any of these tracks on their own would be fine - it's simply that it is a bit overwhelming.

The last two songs on the disc move us back into the more pop-oriented sound that dominates the disc.

In all, I find this disc to be a good listen, and well worth taking the effort to chase down. I have to admit, though, that there are some aspects (as mentioned above) that didn't work for me as well as I would have hoped. I still feel, though, that I can readily recommend this album to anyone that likes traditional synthpop.