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Track List
01) She Is
02) Over My Head (Cable Car)
03) How to Save a Life
04) All at Once
05) Fall Away
06) Heaven Forbid
07) Look After You
08) Hundred
09) Vienna
10) Dead Wrong
11) Little House
12) Trust Me
13) Unsaid
01) She Is
02) Over My Head (Cable Car)
03) How to Save a Life
04) All at Once
05) Fall Away
06) Heaven Forbid
07) Look After You
08) Hundred
09) Vienna
10) Dead Wrong
11) Little House
12) Trust Me
13) Unsaid
3:58
3:58
4:23
3:48
4:23
4:01
4:28
4:14
3:51
3:06
2:31
3:22
3:04
Data Complete
80%
Total Rating
80%Total Rating
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First Released
2005
Alternative Rock
Reflective
Rock/Pop
---
Medium
Album
0 copies
Album Description
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How to Save a Life is the debut album by American indie rock group The Fray. Released on September 13, 2005 through Epic Records, the record charted in the top 15 on the Billboard 200 and was a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The first two singles from the album, "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life" helped the album become a commercial success and brought the band mainstream popularity.
Critical reception to the album was mixed. The piano-rock style of the album drew comparisons with British piano-driven bands like Keane and Coldplay. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAA, and was also certified platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and in the UK. The album went on to become the best-selling digital album of all time, breaking the record held previously by Coldplay's X&Y. It was ranked #21 on Billboard's list of the Best Digital Albums of the Decade.
After independently releasing two EPs, The Fray were looking for a record company to release a full-length album. The band released their song "Cable Car" to Denver radio station KTCL, and the song saw significant airplay. Denver alternative newsweekly Westword named the band "Best New Band" in 2004, and this prompted Epic Records A&R man Daniel Davis to sign the band to a recording contract on December 17, 2004. The album was recorded over six weeks in Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, and was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn.
User Album Review
Having secured a monster radio hit with How To Save A Life and seen its parent album become the biggest download seller ever, The Fray return with a second that resolutely avoids messing with the recipe. A stew of angsty earnestness, piano melancholy and anthemic melodies, like a Coldplay who have never heard Kraftwerk, The Fray will either move or bore you to tears, depending on your disposition.
Although cynics will no doubt accuse The Fray of commercial opportunism, there's little on the album to make you question the band's sincerity. Like their debut, The Fray tackles big questions – the struggles of everyday life, family dysfunction, the existence of God – and wraps them in a big sound, all pounding pianos, swollen guitars and Isaac Slade's hoarse, cracked falsetto.
Sometimes the songs generate the emotional weight The Fray clearly hope for. The single You Found Me packs a punch, thanks to its hauntingly simple piano hook and surging, impassioned chorus, as well as lyrics which see Slade challenge God for his apparent indifference. And both the harmony-borne Absolute and bruising We Build Then We Break slowly work their way under your skin, like Chris Martin at his most introspective.
Unfortunately, there are more moments where this uniformity of approach becomes drearily samey, and the songs blur into each other. When they're coupled with hackneyed lyrics – as on Happiness, which insists, ''happiness feels a lot like sorrow, let it be'' – the results are neither inspired nor inspiring. However, when the band does strike out in new directions, such as on the shuffling, fragile Ungodly Hour, they win your attention again.
There are enough haunting hooks and delicately well written tunes here to ensure The Fray hang on to their fervent fanbase, but little to win over newcomers. If they're to defy the law of diminishing returns, they'll need some fresh air blowing through their third.
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User Comments
Available in:
How to Save a Life is the debut album by American indie rock group The Fray. Released on September 13, 2005 through Epic Records, the record charted in the top 15 on the Billboard 200 and was a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The first two singles from the album, "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life" helped the album become a commercial success and brought the band mainstream popularity.
Critical reception to the album was mixed. The piano-rock style of the album drew comparisons with British piano-driven bands like Keane and Coldplay. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAA, and was also certified platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and in the UK. The album went on to become the best-selling digital album of all time, breaking the record held previously by Coldplay's X&Y. It was ranked #21 on Billboard's list of the Best Digital Albums of the Decade.
After independently releasing two EPs, The Fray were looking for a record company to release a full-length album. The band released their song "Cable Car" to Denver radio station KTCL, and the song saw significant airplay. Denver alternative newsweekly Westword named the band "Best New Band" in 2004, and this prompted Epic Records A&R man Daniel Davis to sign the band to a recording contract on December 17, 2004. The album was recorded over six weeks in Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, and was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn.
User Album Review
Having secured a monster radio hit with How To Save A Life and seen its parent album become the biggest download seller ever, The Fray return with a second that resolutely avoids messing with the recipe. A stew of angsty earnestness, piano melancholy and anthemic melodies, like a Coldplay who have never heard Kraftwerk, The Fray will either move or bore you to tears, depending on your disposition.
Although cynics will no doubt accuse The Fray of commercial opportunism, there's little on the album to make you question the band's sincerity. Like their debut, The Fray tackles big questions – the struggles of everyday life, family dysfunction, the existence of God – and wraps them in a big sound, all pounding pianos, swollen guitars and Isaac Slade's hoarse, cracked falsetto.
Sometimes the songs generate the emotional weight The Fray clearly hope for. The single You Found Me packs a punch, thanks to its hauntingly simple piano hook and surging, impassioned chorus, as well as lyrics which see Slade challenge God for his apparent indifference. And both the harmony-borne Absolute and bruising We Build Then We Break slowly work their way under your skin, like Chris Martin at his most introspective.
Unfortunately, there are more moments where this uniformity of approach becomes drearily samey, and the songs blur into each other. When they're coupled with hackneyed lyrics – as on Happiness, which insists, ''happiness feels a lot like sorrow, let it be'' – the results are neither inspired nor inspiring. However, when the band does strike out in new directions, such as on the shuffling, fragile Ungodly Hour, they win your attention again.
There are enough haunting hooks and delicately well written tunes here to ensure The Fray hang on to their fervent fanbase, but little to win over newcomers. If they're to defy the law of diminishing returns, they'll need some fresh air blowing through their third.
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