It\u2019s tough to intro an album you\u2019ve heard so many times before and Before You Break<\/i> starts off pretty mundane, with the standard veteran singer-songwriter fare of \u201cDownhill\u201d signaling the arrival of this New Haven, Conn. band. <\/p>\n
The witty \u201cHorndog\u201d upgrades with some hilarious lyrics and hooks reminiscent of contemporary pop songsmiths Ben Kweller and Brendan Benson. \u201cI know its true \/ For me and you \/ I see my chance \/ To get in your pants,\u201d Critelli croons unsuspectingly.<\/p>\n
The edge dulls a little on the weakly produced center of the record, but makes a brief return on \u201cReflections on a Friendship Heading South\u201d when Critelli sings \u201cAnd I\u2019m feeling just a little confusion \/ About the drugs that you are using \/ \u2019Cause there seems to be a fusion \/ Of your head and ass\u201d in a two-part harmony.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrange Opera\u201d starts off strong as a requiem for smoking pot with friends, but gets a little schmaltzed in misplaced romanticism. \u201cThe Only Question Worth Asking\u201d is a damn good country song that proves welcome, though out of place when it kicks off the album\u2019s home stretch. The shimmering Creedence guitar accents are a nice touch.<\/p>\n
The title track and \u201cThe Moment Of Creation\u201d end the record on a strong note and actually make it sound like a bona fide full-length project as opposed to a set of songs to hawk after shows.<\/p>\n
Critelli is at his best when he\u2019s more introspective and less the comedian. The last two tracks really resonate before the odd but very welcome cover choice of Arlo Guthrie\u2019s \u201cComing Into Los Angeles\u201d unofficially closes things out.<\/p>\n
Before You Break<\/i> is a well-intentioned effort that hurts from its lack of focus. While the last two tracks are the most memorable and worthwhile pieces, the remainder shows off a few sides of Critelli that are all worth knowing in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":28749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7935],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-40243","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-frank-critelli","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40243"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}