Customer Reviews

The Shore

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Words do not do The Shore justice. Rarely, does 1 find a cd that has so many stellar songs one after another. Most musicians don't write a career's worth of music this good. I saw The Shore live at a rock venue here in Phoenix, AZ. Their performance live was every bit as good as the music that I have become obsessed with listening to every day in my house, at work, and every where I go. As I wait for the bus, walk home from the grocery store, and do my laundry, I sing their soulful, emotive, beautiful music. To call this music "POP" is to do it a disservice. It isn't pop. It is rock and roll with possibly the best singer modern rock music has created in the last twenty years. Some of David Gilmour's work or Matthew Good from Beautiful Midnight could come close. They could come close but, only with a specific song or two. Nearly all of these ten songs have Ben Ashley showing the music world what real feelings, real loss, and real tears sound like when they are lamented from the vocal chords of a strikingly talented singer. The lyrics feel like a river, and the music feels like being lifted up to a heaven we were taught existed once. The building polyphonic orgasm of "Coming Down" is unparalleled in the history of rock. I cannot imagine a human being that couldn't appreciate this music. I've played this music to a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, some who listen to gangster rap and some who listen to christian music and some who listen to jazz and some who listen to death metal. Inevitably, I hear, "hey who is this playing right now". It's The Shore. That's all you have to say. It's The Shore. Download this album, share it with your friends, send it to an ex-girlfriend even if she hates you. You can communicate things with music that you cannot do with any other media including words which is why I hesitate writing this review at all.

If you are craving the sounds of The Verve, the spellbinding contemporary British pop band with a front man possessing cheek bones in high-relief, well...there's always your copy of Urban Hymns or Richard Ashcroft's solo project Alone With Everybody. If that just won't do, try nabbing yourself a copy of The Shore's self-titled debut, full of dreamy tracks with mournful yet ardent vocals, piano interludes, and evocative guitars.

This isn't the first time the band has been compared to The Verve. The Shore, a talented young L.A.-based quartet formed in the summer of 2002, has been inspiring critics to make comparisons to Coldplay, Oasis, Radiohead, and even U2. Giving it a listen, you realize that those critics are right. Every track feels familiar. You know you know this band's songs, you must've heard them somewhere before.

Even though it may not sound exactly unique, does that mean that it's bad, trite, or cliché? Not exactly. In fact, it sounds familiar because it works; as opposed to be annoying, it is satisfying in its sameness, and yet at the same time it's refreshing because they take that recognizable sound and reinvent it. Founder and front man Ben Ashley has obviously been invoking all the right muses and smashing them together in order to create this melodic and introspective otherworldly first album. Released in August 2004, the songs conjure up images of lonely deserts, dusky cross-country road-trips, and summer sunsets taking place in the 1970s. The opening track, "The Hard Road", delivers a nostalgic desperation with twangy guitars and leaves the feeling of loss, but the fulfilling kind of loss. "Hold On" is the longing, beautiful track you listen to on the lonely bus ride home with your face pressed up against the window glass, taking pride in your misery. Not every track on the album is a "downer", though; "Firefly" is a catchy, upbeat song with scratchy, passionate vocals, aside from the illusory falsetto chorus, and the mid-tempo "Everything We Are" will have their audience moving, being a quality pop song while still retaining meaning and integrity.

The Verve may have become another footnote in the history of Music, allowing new bands to spring up and take their place. However, in this case, that may not be so bad. Welcome to The Shore.

Excellent debut album. My guess is that we'll all be hearing about The Shore over the next few years. This CD is full of passion, emotion, energy, and songs that somehow just sink into you without you knowing what's happening, but next thing you know they are stuck in your head. Reminds me very much of Parachutes by Coldplay, not so much for the sound but for the tone and for being a smart, honest, unique, debut album.

It lacks any easy, "hooks", that most people in the US require to even consider an artist, there is no intentionally, radio-friendly, Yellow, on this CD which is the only thing that might prevent The Shore from blowing up, and that's a good thing.

I love it. Give it some time to sink in and listen closely. It won't grab you from the start because there is nothing entirely familiar to compare it to, it's more a combo of Verve, Coldplay, Beatles, Travis, Beach Boys, etc rolled into a unique sound

It's not perfect, some flaws, but thank god some bands in the US are finally starting to pick up on what the UK has known forever- that great, lasting, music starts with passion and commitment to the art first and then the $$$$$.

No one would be likely to fault you for mistaking the meandering melodies in "Hard Road," the opening song and first single off the Shore's self-titled debut, for the Verve's big comeback. Vocalist Ben Ashley channels Richard Ashcroft's vibrato so well, you'd think him possessed if you didn't already know that Ashcroft's still kicking. But by the time the third song, "Take What's Mine," rolls in, it becomes clear that this is more than Brit-rock karaoke by an American band. The Shore add their own dimensions by seamlessly blending in the kind of dreamy multi-tonal harmonies long ago mastered by groups from their native left coast, such as the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. The resulting songs are sunnier than their U.K. idols' but darker than their West Coast forefathers', making it an all around nostalgic album of laid-back, pleasurable tunes.
KRISTIN ROTH www.rollingstone.com

This album is the best album of the year....i know that sounds like way too brash a statement but The Shore are making music that doesn't sound like what other people are doing right now. All the Verve/Coldplay/et al comparisons are fine but make no mistake that this band is doing something different, original and fun. From song 1 to 10 there is no skip needed....most albums today have 3 or 4 songs max that you really want to listen to again and again but you can listen the entire album all the way through without fighting the urge to hit the skip button...do yourself a favor and give this band a chance, if you are a fan of rock music this is well worth your time and money.

Sweet lord, if anybody reading this likes the Verve or coldplay than you have got to add this band to your collection. These cd is great all the way through, no need to skip a track, just put it in a go for a drive. This CD has restored my hope that there are still talented bands out there that can craft quality original songs. This cd will be money well spent.

I am finding it shocking!!! i got this album in the summer when i was in America for 6 weeks (from England). I listened to some tracks on a test thing n was like cool i may aswell get it seems CD's are nice n cheap in America anyway!!

It's really great like everyone else has said its kinda coldplay ish but i dunno with a little bit of loadsa other bands but also just them!!

But anyway i am gradually getting ppl from england into it even tho they cant buy it from amazon.CO.UK! hehe if your looking at reviews u must be interested so just buy it! its a good album!
:-)

The melodies seep into your head until you can't remember what it was like before you first heard the Shore. Many people have compared them to the Verve, but I think they're more melodic (less jam-oriented) and have a fuller sound. They often make amazing tunes out of just a few chords that they stack layers of sound upon the basic foundation. The stand-out track in my opinion is "Hold On" which absolutely aches with meaning, emotion and power. The whole album is solid; the only track I'm not too fond of is "I'll Be Your Man" but even that track is good. This is an amazing debut album; I can't wait for their next one.

The Shore's CD creates dreamy pop landscapes. The opener "Hard Road" has Ben Ashley's aching vocals melting over Rick Porter's guitar, "Have faith in this light flowin' through windows at dawn, but the seasons will change & I've never felt so alone." My favorite track is "I'll Be Your Man" with its pretty pop melody and some juicy lead guitar. "Waiting for the Sun" has an original melody with a midtempo pace, "Coming down, I feel vibrations sweetly sing my soul to a new day; Let it flow, let the soft sound glow inside my mind." "Different Ways" also sets a similar groove with the dense guitars washing slowly behind Ben Ashley's vocals, "I can feel it coming on like a hurricane." Of course, it's one of the slower hurricanes, which would be my only complaint about this set. I would have liked a few flat out rockers thrown into the mix to pep it up a bit. "Hold On" comes closest to fitting that bill and has some nice Beach Boys airy harmonies thrown in. The Shore sound is melodic and dreamy, a great debut. Enjoy!

No doubt about it. This is a great album with wonderful, melodic pop songs and beautiful string arrangements. Not a bad song on the record. The highly under rated Rick Parker produced this record. Rick is a master at wistful, longing pop songs. Not only that, but the SOUND of this record is great. Recorded at Rick's studio The Sandbox in Los Angeles, the production and mix sounds ten times better than most of the overproduced, tinny, digital, overcompressed pro-tools records out there right now. This makes it a pleasent listen on the ears, as well. Do yourself a favor and try to find the records by Ricks two previous bands, Lion's & Ghost's and Sparkler. Both are filled with wonderful melodies and hooks just like The Shore.