Blake Lewis “A.D.D.” Review

Blake’s slogan “silence is golden, but I prefer noise” says a whole lot about “Audio Day Dream”. Actually noisy is an understatement because listening to the whole album is like being in traffic and hearing semi’s come at you from every angle. But is that really surprising coming from a man who can make infinite sounds with his mouth? What Blake set out to do was create an album that sounds like an 80s mixtape. He says he’s the first Idol to get full creative control, and you can definitely hear that in the music.

The negative thing I would say about the album is that some of the songs kind of blend together in sound. There’s “Break Anotha”, the single that I like a lot but I don’t exactly have it on repeat on my iPod. After listening to the whole album, there were several other better choices for the first single. “Gots to Get Her” will probably fall into the same category for me; this song samples “Putting On The Ritz” which I thought was pretty creative, and it works well in the song.

Toward the end of the album there’s “What’cha Got 2 Lose”, which was supposed to be the single, although I don’t think it has radio appeal at all. Oh and Chris R. from Idol helped write this. The very next track is “She’s Making Me Lose it” which is my least favorite song on the entire album. By far. You can really hear Blake’s influences throughout the album but it’s a bit too obvious on this track that it was inspired by Prince. And they really should’ve stuck a ballad or something in between these two songs.

The songs on A.D.D. that are a tad bit slower with more of a trance vibe are the standouts, like “How Many Words” (I think I read this is Blake’s favorite) that has a really pretty melody, and it’s one of my favorites even though the hook seems a bit out of place. “Without You” is one of the few ballads on the album. This song was compared to Coldplay, an I don’t quite understand that, although it does remind me of Keane.

“I Got U” is a really poppy and catchy mid tempo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up as a single at one point. Another really catchy song that a lot of people really seem to like is “Know My Name”, featuring Lupe Fiasco.

And then there’s my two ABSOLUTE FAVORITE tracks on the album. First is “Surrender”; you really can’t deny the 80s vibe in this one. Great lyrics and the melody is pretty hypnotic. The second is “Here’s My Hello”…..oh my gosh I love this, it’s like the “Freeze” of his album. I think this should be considered for a single. Great chorus.

Oh wait, make that three. I’m also loving “End of The World” which is one of the other ballads.

Following up on my comment in the beginning comparing the album to being in traffic, that’s not a bad thing. Because love it or hate it, every song is complex. There’s nothing basic or boring on this album, no filler songs, you can tell Blake spent a lot of time on each one. Very rarely do I see an album where every track is this strong, even if I don’t love them all.

B+

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