Emerson Drive Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
Canadian country boy banders Emerson Drive have all the necessary ingredients to be a hitmaking machine -- looks, talent, a work ethic that makes other acts seem lazy in comparison -- yet the group always hovers somewhere below the break-out point. The band's first three albums were stacked with some of the best songs the Nashville publishing community had to offer, but lady luck, outside of the number one hit "Moments" from the band's third disc, Countrified, has so far refused to cooperate. Believe, Emerson Drive's fourth album, sticks to the well-worn formula of the group's previous releases. The ten-track collection overflows with soaring lead vocals, airtight harmonies, and shimmering instrumentation that sits somewhere between the pop/rock and country worlds. Frontman Brad Mates twirls and curls his voice around some of the most slickly produced pop-country candy ever laid down on record. Mates' partners in crime rise to the occasion and paint the ten tracks every color of the musical rainbow. Tunes like the heart swelling "That Kind of Beautiful" and the reflective "That Was Us" belong at the top of the U.S. charts alongside hits from the likes of Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban. The album highlight, the piano and string doused "Your Last," is a lump-in-the-throat masterpiece. Mates has a tear in his voice as he slips into the skin of a man reeling from the ultimate loss, the loss of the woman who shared his bed, his life, and his heart. On Believe, Emerson Drive prove they still have a lot of faith left as they continue to reach for the top. ~ Todd Sterling, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Led by the rich-toned lead vocals of Brad Mates, the Canadian-bred band's first two albums on Dreamworks received tons of high-powered accolades from the country music community -- including Billboard's Top Country Artist of the Year and Group of the Year for two consecutive years from the Canadian Country Music Association. The sounds were crisp, slick, and fit perfectly into the era's pop-country vibe, but Richard Marx's solid production was a mixed blessing; some felt he made Emerson Drive "too" pop to be legit country artists. That problem is solved on this incredibly infectious, not-a-bad-cut-in-sight collection, not only with a title indicating Emerson Drive's true identity as country artists, but with production by famed genre songwriters and producers Keith Follese and Brad Allen -- who also happen to helm the band's new U.S. label, Midas Records Nashville. There's still a rock/pop edge, reflected by the popular, family values-driven first single "A Good Man" and "You Still Own Me." But the richer country elements shine through on the fiddle passages (performed brilliantly by David Pichette) of the raucous, honky tonkin' "Testify" and barnburning "Sweet Natural Girl." Heartfelt, gently twangy ballads like "Moments" and "A Boy Becomes a Man" beautifully balance the feisty tunes. The disc's true masterpiece is saved for the end, when the boys put a crafty rock/soul energy into the classic "Devil Went Down to Georgia," adding to Pichette's fiddle genius with a touch of Latin spice and a few witty, well-placed bars of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" by guitarist Danick Dupelle. ~ Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Emerson Drive is contemporary country at its poppiest, a band that is country in name only, with a sound and sensibility much closer to the mellow Californian country-rock of the '70s or the slick MOR of the '80s than to Music City. After all, this is a band that, for its second album, 2004's What If?, has placed all its chits on producer Richard Marx, who is best known for his post-Eagles adult contemporary hits of the late '80s and is a pop craftsman, not a honky tonker. To country purists, this naturally means that Emerson Drive is not something to be taken seriously, and if you're looking for straight-ahead country, these guys don't deliver. But that doesn't mean they're bad. In fact, they're very, very good, a mainstream pop band with appealing tunefulness and a mild country flair. Marx is a perfect fit as producer, and brings out their strengths, whether it's their endearing everyguy persona or good harmonies, selecting a tight set of 14 songs (including four co-written by Marx) in the process. It's a modest album, yet it's also sturdy and well constructed, growing in stature after several plays. Above all, with What If? Emerson Drive proves to be reliable, delivering a record that may not progress far from the band's debut -- it follows the same blueprint, only delving a little deeper into pop -- but is certainly its equal in terms of quality, and is a solid second effort. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Emerson Drive, a band of Canadian transplants, eases right into the Music Row pocket with its first effort, a collection of amiable tunes delivered with polish and some degree of drama. What's most refreshing is that the band wrote hardly any of it; with so many non-performing writers in Nashville, it's a blessing to find a self-contained group that doesn't have to inflict its own mediocre material on the world. On the other hand, the gloss and lyrical predictability of these songs doesn't prove that the non-performing writers are necessarily that much more gifted. On balance, with its ebullient spirit, agreeably rough-edged vocal harmonies, and fluid fiddle fills from Pat Allingham, Emerson Drive is about as strong a debut as one can expect, given the narrow stylistic rules imposed on the genre. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide
