Alex Band Crafts Masterpiece Rather Than Ordinary Album

Douglas Boultinghouse
Editor-in-Chief

Courtesy of Alex Band

   In 2001, a band by the name of The Calling released a song titled "Wherever You Will Go." While the song became a staple on the Adult Top 40, it also launched the career of the band's founder and lead singer, Alex Band.

   After The Calling went on hiatus in 2005 when touring and promotion for its sophomore album wrapped, Band began pursuing a solo career. His work with The Calling proved he possessed impressive songwriting skills and perhaps one of the most recognizable and powerful voices in rock music.

   Five years later on his own record label, AMB Records, he released the song "Tonight," which served as the lead single off his debut album. "We've All Been There."

   The song features the powerful vocals expected and a chorus so infectious, it is questionable why the song does not receive more radio play.

   “Tonight, let the music take us over / We'll fall into forever, all is right / Cause I got you where I want you tonight,” Band sings on the first release.

   Band either wrote or co-wrote all of the 14 songs on the album, which flows seamlessly between rock and pop. The album is actually in the form of an oddity, as it is very rare to find an album where each track is flawless. There is no trace of mediocre filler, but rather 14 individual masterpieces.

   However, at the same time, the album also creates an underlying theme of love, hope, faith and inspiration throughout ... something refreshing and almost unusual at this point in the music industry as many albums are crafted for radio singles rather than cohesive art.

   "Is there anybody who can end this war? / We’ve been fighting for so long I forgot what we’re fighting for / So father can you pardon our sins? / Tell me how we lost the answer to this question… / What is love?," he sings on the answer-seeking "What Is Love."

   The questions continue to grow deeper and reach a powerful climax that creates an surprising experience as many people have in fact, forgotten what love is in general. 

   The question is answered in a later track simply titled, "Love."

   "So open your doors and pray… Cause it’s love that keeps us alive when we’re broken down inside," Band reveals.

   The track “Please” could be the album’s biggest eye-opener. The song features a series of strings and drums paired with lyrics in which Band asks for guidance on what to believe when so many religions in the world fight to be the correct one, when ultimately, many are alike, according to his street team’s Web site.

   “If love is a temple / Then hope is a church that binds everybody like the spine of a book filled with pages that cannot be turned / If we're here for a reason / Then that reason is ours to know / But you say that it's better to not know why together we keep living on and weather this storm,” he sings after a chorus of, “I'm asking please / Please / Tell me what I need to believe.”

   Aside from the inspiring tracks, the album contains a few gems itching with potential for adult contemporary radio success, such as “Never Let You Go,” “Forever Yours,” “Will Not Back Down” and the follow-up single, “Without You.”

   “Those were the best days of my life / Those were the memories that will never die / If I could only turn back time / I would find you and make you mine / I’m doing the best that I can do without you,” he sings, almost reviving the style of The Calling’s hit “Adrienne.”

    If radio gives Band a shot, “Without You” could be a huge hit.

   Regardless, artistic integrity speaks volumes over radio success and ironically, artistic integrity is something some radio successes lack. Band on the other hand, defined artistic integrity with “We’ve All Been There.”

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