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Howie Day - Sound The Alarm Audio CD

A fair review of the Howie Day "Sound The Alarm" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Howie Day reviews here, or go back to the Howie Day tabs.

Howie Day Band: Howie Day
Title: Sound The Alarm
Rating:
Release Date: 2009-09-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: So Stung 2: Weightless 3: Longest Night 4: 40 Hours 5: Be There 6: Everyone Loves To Love A Lie 7: Undressed 8: Sound The Alarm 9: No Longer What You Require 10: Postcard From Mars 11: Counting On Me

Very good CD
It is good from start to finish. If you enjoy Howie Day's music you will love this CD.


Great comeback album
His voice is very smooth and the songs are well written. I think this is a great followup to Howie's last album. However, I don't think there is any song that will push sales like "Collide" did for his last album. But it's a solid effort and it should please any of his fans.


Exactly What I Require
Being from out west, I hadn't heard of Howie yet--he was a young 18 year old, from nearby Bangor, Maine. I first became a Howie Day fan when I saw him live for the first of at least 30 times back at the University of New Hampshire. I was hooked.

Since the release of his sophomore album, "Stop All The World Now," Howie had, frankly, let the success of "Collide" go to his head. He had fully soaked up all of the celebrity entitlement symptoms. For long time fans like myself, it became annoying. He was, supposedly, popping pills and absolutely hitting the bottle--I'd seen a couple of shows where he was just boozing like crazy, it was sad and disgusting.

There were a lot of high profile issues he brought onto himself, and I was hoping that the 6 year delay to release "Sound the Alarm" was due to his desire and not due to him just not getting around to it. Hearing some of his new stuff live, I was impressed. Hearing the previews on iTunes and Amazon, I was worried. With the finished product, it sounds a lot less produced than I'd feared, and Howie has hit the bullseye.

To be honest, there are two tracks that I don't quite like. "Be There" is much better live than the pop sounding finished product from the studio, and "Undressed" hits me as being a filler, way out of place. I always thought Howie and Graham Colton could do something cool together, but I'm disappointed with the result. Even "Postcard From Mars," which was at first listen way too bizarre for me, is far and away more preferred to those tracks.

Howie has never been the type of artist I like being surrounded by Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy on a pop radio station--with "Collide" that's what it was. Six years later he couldn't be further away from the pop friendly sound, and more like his authentic self. Aside from the two tracks mentioned, the rest of them are gems in their own right. "So Stung" is a hauntingly unique sound to open up the album and hook you in. "Longest Night" is another stand-out track, with the best hook of the entire set. . . you'll surely be singing along. The title track is piano based on the album, but he generally plays his trusted Takamine live, and they both sound fantastic. There are also two finger picked songs on the album, something Howie isn't necessarily known for. "40 Hours" grows on me with each listen, just a lovely song, very well crafted, and then the absolute standout track of not just the album, but of his entire life's work, is "No Longer What You Require. " He has never come this close to a perfect song, and that says a lot given songs like "Ghost" or "Madrigals. "

The album on the whole is very relateable. He's obviously written about a lot of heavy issues, from his real life experiences. On the surface, he's learned from his mistakes and his music has matured because of what he has lived. Thankfully, it seems like Howie has got his feet firmly placed back on the ground (you like that, playing on "Everyone Loves to Love a Lie"), his head square on his shoulders, and it's damn good to have Howie Day back. This album was exactly what I required.


HOWIE HITS IT.... AGAIN
Was On the computer. . Loaded Howie's ALARM on media player. Liked the first play thru. . . as the music finished track 11 the CD started over, then on the 3rd run through I was hooked on this new jewel from Howie. I don't know how many times the CD replayed, I know I was singing along with Howie by the time I finally shut down the computer for the night.
We're use to Howie's gifts now, give this one some replays, He's got some great stuff here!!!.


Sound the alarm-- this album is a dud.
, and I saw Howie Day's cd on sale for ten dollars or something. It was, what, five, six years ago I was in Walmart's music dept. I liked the cover pic and the album title, "Stop All the World Now," so I bought it. Damn! From the very first listen, I thought it was the most fantastic album ever. God! "Brace Yourself," was the perfect song to start the album, then it quickly went to "Perect Time of Day," and "Collide" and the utterly awesome "Trouble in Here," and more great songs after that, then came "You and a Promise," and that just blew me away. On July 30, 2005 I went to see him at a little club here in Atlanta, I was just about ten feet away from him, and it was an awesome concert. Every song he sang was fantastic. And then he did the "psychedelic" instrumental and the music just bounced off the walls for like ten minutes and it was amazing. HOWIE was amazing that night. I thought he was the hugest new talent ever, and I couldn't wait to hear his next album, hear what more fantastic songs he would write and sing.

But as I said before, this new album is the greatest disappointment ever. Yeah it is a good album, a good album for any singer starting out and trying to make his place in the world; but Howie Day is a much more experienced and talented singer: this album is way beneath him, he could have done something way greater.


You can see a complete list of all Howie Day discography, or go back to the Howie Day tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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