Saving Boy Wonder

So as everyone knows, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, especially when it comes to music. So who better to review this album than their own guitar player? That's me. I'm ryan, i'm in Saving Boy Wonder, and here is what i think of our cd, Canadia.

First off, i know nobody knows who we are, so i'll let you know a little about the band. SBW is basically a ska band made of people who don't like ska. We've been around since halloween 1999, but just recently finally got around to making a 5 song CD-EP. We have a fairly original sound, even if it's attained by combining the most bland, played out genres of music around today (ska, punk, "emo"). It's not ORIGINAL by any means, but i can't name any bands that we sound like.... So what about the cd?

Well, it's not great. That's for damn sure. The quality is decent, but the mix is pretty poor. The horns are pretty sloppy and the vocals were kind of rushed in the studio. The guitar, bass, and drum tracks sound good though, although our drummer will attest that his snare drum lacks "balls."

As far as the songs go, i think some of them are pretty good. I've always been very proud of the song Minor Keys, the first track on the album. I think it's pretty catchy, and has some good elements to it, and has a cool breakdown section that builds into the chorus. Same with the next track, Greg's Anthem. My only complaint about this song is that it's a bit too ska for my tastes, but it has a good sax solo in it.

Track 3, Valentines Day, just sucks. I hate this song. The lyrics are so elementary they make me want to puke. The only thing i like about this song is the ending, where each membe of the horn section plays a totally different repetitive line until it gets really chaotic, but that didn't turn out as well on the cd as it does live.

The 4th track is entitled Wake Me. I think this is the strongest track on the album. I has a kind of Impossibles-meets-Can't Slow Down era Saves the Day feel to it w/ horns which is pretty unique to me. This song definitely has the best lyrics on the cd.

The final track, Chinchilla, although having the best name on the album, is definitely the most unoriginal song. It goes from a fun latin intro to a pretty generic pop punk song in the middle, but it has some turns in it that make it pretty cool and i think at least worth one or two listens.

But i'm pretty hard on myself. I think that this cd is at least better than most of the crap st. louis bands put out (not saying we're good, there's just a LOT of crap in st. louis). But I think if you're a fan of Big D and the Kids Table, early Impossibles, First Grade Crush, or Rx Bandits, then we're at least worth a listen. You can check us out here, and download a song or 2.