Stop All the World Now

Pass It to the Left, Howie Needs a Hit
by: nick evans

Its hard to categorize Howie Day as just one thing. Stop all the World Now takes on the same kind of personality and identity as John Mayer's Heavier Things or Jason Mraz' latest took on their latest albums. But at the same time, there's a lingering tinge of indie credibility (he's performing at Coachela- every indie kid's wet dream concert).

With Stop All the World Now, he starts right where Australia ended and goes for a more upbeat, poppier edge on most of the songs, most notably the first single, "Perfect Time of Day." The opening guitar riffs on the song "Collide" and lyrics from "Brace Yourself" sound like they could have come from any commercial, radio-bound "Artist". (the first lyrics on the album: "So, you think/ you can hold the world up by a string"). He does, however, try to seperate himself from the rest of the pack with the last 3 songs. "You and a Promise" sounds alot like an ode to Bono, and "Come Lay Down" has all the wonderful weirdness of Radiohead and Robert Plant rolled into it.

With that said, one could definately conclude this album is inconsistent. A few true gems are sandwiched between generic, typical radio-hungry songs.

Despite all its shortcomings, it is a hard album not to like. He's a young, likeable musician with a promising career ahead of him. It's definately not something to hear when on a search for originality, and is more ideal for an Avril fan rather than a Thom fan. It seems Howie is desperate for a hit (let us not remember the unfortunate step Liz Phair took last year) and seems to be abandoning his initial college-age fanbase for VH1 video spins. But oh well. The album serves its purpose. 07-Apr-2004 9:03 PM