Lucky Street is the debut album coming from pop-punk/alternative outfit Go Radio. Lead vocalist Jason Lancaster might sound familiar to you, before Go Radio he was a part of Mayday Parade. With the band he recorded an EP and the album A Lesson in Romantics. This album led to a "Who's better?" argument between fans over Go Radio and Mayday Parade, and with good reason, Go Radio is a very good band. After their 2010 EP, Do Overs and Second Chances Go Radio started work on their highly anticipated debut album. Did the album live up to it's expectations?
1. Lucky Street - Pretty solid album opener, though it seems by the end of the album that it's a forgettable song. This doesn't mean it's a bad song, the ones to follow are just a bit better.
2. Any Other Heart - The first official single of the album, it's a high energy song, and Jason's vocals shine on this song.
3. Singing With the King - One of my favorite off of this album, I love the classic rock references, between Johnny Cash, Keith Moon and Elvis this song is an ode to the old rock n' roll days. It's a fantastic song and musically the song flows and sweetly as a river.
4. Strength to Stay - By this point in the album you start to get the feel of Go Radio's basic song structure and sound. Surprisingly Jason does some Muse-esque vocals in the chorus which really add some flare to this otherwise basic song.
5. Swear it Like You Mean it - This is one of my favorites off of this album as well, it starts off on the slower side and picks up in the most natural way possible and Jason's vocals show so much emotion in this song, it really shines.
6. Why I'm Home - Now this song was originally released as a non-album single on iTunes in 2010, and I wasn't too crazy about it. Here we find it on the album, reworked a bit and rerecorded and it sounds 10 times better. The original "Why I'm Home" was probably one of my least favorite Go Radio songs but the reworked one makes it one of the better ones.
7. Kill the Beast - Here we see Go Radio at full blast, with a fast song, fast-paced singing and a song that truly rocks.
8. Hold On - I was honestly shocked that it took to track 8 to find a filler track on this album. A mostly acoustic love song, which usually I love but it just doesn't pan out in the band's favor this time around.
9. Forever My Father - A song about Jason's father who passed away, I will expand more on this song at track 14.
10. Fight Fight (Reach for the Sky) - This a more experimental song, complete with a brass horns section. This song is great and if it doesn't catch your attention right away I don't know what will. A HUGE standout on this cd.
11. House of Hallways - This is a sad, sad acoustic song. You can really hear the emotion in Jason's voice. This being one of the emotionally driven tracks on the album it really stands up to the rest of the album and is truly a fantastic song. Even though it doesn't have electric guitar and a rhythm section on the song it still comes together in a big way.
12. Redemption in the Verse - We have arrived at filler song #2. This one is just on the boring side, the entire mid-section of the song seems to be "la di da da" repeated more times than needed. Overall, the only reason you'll remember this song is because the mid-section annoyed you.
13. The Truth is - Now THIS is a love song. I knew Go Radio had it in them. Piano intro with a soft backing band throughout the song and Jason's vocals over it all just makes a fantastic song. The lyrics on this one are amazing, you can tell the amount of love flowing from his words.
14. Forever My Father (featuring Erin and Daniel Lancaster) - Now this is a rerecorded version of track 9 with 2 additional voices, Jason's brother and sister. Being about their father it's obviously going to be a hugely emotional song, for all 3 of them. In my opinion, bringing in his siblings was a terrific idea, they can both sing, and it just adds to the atmosphere of the song. You can hear the pain in their voices, and that ladies and gentlemen, you cannot fake. This song has legitimately brought me to tears because the lyrics just apply to you and make you think of your father, in my mind that makes this song timeless.
Overall - This debut is fantastic, with just 2 filler/not so great songs Go Radio really pulled through with this one. This album along with their first EP make for an extremely impressive catalog for this band, hopefully it will continue. Go Radio's sophomore album Close the Distance will be released in August. The band is great, all the musician's do there job with precision and grace, and as I've said Jason's vocals are spot on. Also, Lucky Street was released in a deluxe edition with plenty of bonus material, 3 music videos, a couple demos, an acoustic rendition of a song off of their EP and a wonderful cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". I would highly recommend buying this cd, if you have a few extra bucks buy the deluxe edition, it truly is worth it.
Rating - regular edition: 9/10
deluxe edition: 9.5/10
http://fearless.merchnow.com/search/?q=go+radio <--- That's a link to their merchandise, definitely pick something up.
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