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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
you've got the most familiar face, December 6, 2002
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.
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album Stanley Climbfall 
