311 - Uplifter, Album Review

So, I will try not to be too biased with my thoughts on Uplifter. It might be hard because I've been a 311 fan for about 13 years now...I should say hardcore fan, so I will try to keep that in check while I write this.

311's musical style has drastically changed from the time I became a fan (1996) to now. Their first three albums (Music, Grassroots, Self Title [usually referred to as the Blue Album]), were more heavy musically, lots of rapping, explicit language. I almost want to say their music sounded more angsty, but 311 is definitely not an angsty band. Their "slogan" has always been to "Stay positive and love your life." Anyway, I feel that their fourth album (Transistor) is where things began to change. This was a highly experimental type album, drastically different from the previous three and I am pretty sure they did lose some fans because of that album. I admit when I first heard it, I was like "WTF?" but I do love it now and it has *MY* song on it, "Beautiful Disaster." Their fifth album (Soundsystem) was full of rock/reggae, so that makes it freaking awesome on its own. Admittedly their next few albums kind of run together for me...the sixth (From Chaos) and seventh (Evolver) are good albums, but nothing really stands out for me. Of course, I have my favorite songs from those albums, such as "Uncalm" off From Chaos (Most of you probably know the song "Amber," which is off From Chaos as well) and "Give me a Call" from Evolver. Their eighth album, Don't Tread On Me was okay. For some reason to me, while not horrible, it did seem half hearted in some places and it just didn't seem to have the normal 311 effort that you can feel in other albums. Though, I do love some tracks from that album such as "Waiting" and the title song.

Most of 311's albums are about 2 years apart, but the wait for Uplifter was much longer. Don't Tread On Me came out in 2005 and 4 years later, we have Uplifter. (I will pick now to say that I am only counting studio albums of new music, but they do have a greatest hits, a live album and other random songs out there.) I thought a small piece of background would be nice prior to my talking about Uplifter. Though, most people probably won't know what I am talking about, I do hope I've put some things in context.

For the last months, the lead singer of 311, Nick Hexum, has talked about how excited they are for this new album, how they put a lot of work into and how they feel it is their best album in a long time. While I'm sure most bands say this stuff, I have to completely agree. Personally, I haven't felt so awesome about an album since Soundsystem. Uplifter as a whole is a great album. Of course, I already have some songs that speak to me more than others, but when I listen to the album, I am excited all the way through. By the way, the album came out this past Tuesday (06/02/2009) and I've probably listened to it, front to back, about 15 times already.

To me, Uplifter isn't book-ended very well. I find that most artists will put their better songs at the beginning of the album and at the end of the album and put the not as good in the middle of the album. Uplifter is the opposite. I think the stronger songs are in the middle, with the beginning and end of the album not as strong. I am not saying that this is a bad thing, but seems to be different from the norm. For me, the album starts to get really strong around track 5, "India Ink" and well, fades by the last song, "My Heart Sings." There are two bonus tracks from a deluxe version of Uplifter, which are pretty good. It is too early for me to pick out a favorite from this album...I may have a favorite part of a song, though. Track 8, "Never Ending Summer" starts off w/the 311 chant (heard at most of their concerts), which I love. And, I have always felt that 311, especially in recent years, hasn't had a knack for picking out singles. While "Hey You", their current single, isn't their strongest song, but it might be the most radio friendly.

Now, I think I can say what I'm about to say because I am such a diehard fan, but sometimes 311 does have some cheesy/corny lyrics...and sometimes you almost have that "I'm embarrassed for you" feeling. I have never felt their lyrics were their strong suit, but their music. Wow. The music in this album is awesome. There's so many parts in different songs that just blow me away. I am not sure if it is so much musicianship (not that they are horrible musicians), as much as it is their talent for mixing together different beats/riffs/sounds/styles. 311 has always been known for this talent of just mixing things up and the finished product is amazing. I really feel that Uplifter brings this talent to the surface once again.

Uplifter is definitely their strongest album in 10 years, no doubt. Whether it's public/radio friendly, who knows. Their most famous songs in recent years were "Amber" and "Love Song" (a Cure cover) and those are definitely not my favorites. I am very excited about this album and I am very happy for the band. Being a long term 311 fan, it hasn't always been easy to see them go from one style to another, constantly changing their sound. They have gotten older, they have evolved and naturally their are going to change and their music is going to change, which is the way it should be. It's never good to be stagnant, repeating the same stuff over and over again. While their older stuff is my favorite (in large part because of sentimental reasons), their newer stuff is great too. There are a lot of fans of think 311 aren't as good now or they have been let down because they don't sound like the Blue Album anymore, which is unfortunate. If fans can get on board and accept that 311 has evolved and that they do have a different style now and that they will never be the way they were...if they can go with the flow, they will totally love this album.

If you are interested in checking out the album, 311's My Space page has Uplifter streaming.