Grand Avenue "Place to Fall" (2009)

Place to Fall
release date: Sep. 28, 2009
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,58]
producer: Richard Rainey
label: Playground - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "Nowhere Now" (live) - 3. "Follow You Down" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Control" - 9. "Coming Up"

4th and so far final studio album by Grand Avenue, and the second consecutive album to be produced by Richard Rainey. It's the first album after the band's three-album contract with EMI, now released on the independent Scandinavian label, Playground Music. Again, the musical style doesn't reveal a band in progress. These songs could easily have been released with its second album She from 2005. It's indie pop and pop / rock. It's nice, it's well-played, well-produced, and a bit on the polished side, but it doesn't take you anywhere. It's like... 'Yeah?' And? It's a bit boring, and in my mind the band's least interesting album, almost without decent songs, which is a bit of a shame 'cause they are skilled musicians, but frankly, they play without any direction, and what's worse: without a mission. Where are the emotions. What point is there in playing songs that sound as if you had put R.E.M., U2, Travis, and Coldplay in a pot? At this point, I rarely noticed the band was still around, and it's no surprise that it ended on with this. From the start, they seemed to be on a slope, and things weren't getting better. In Denmark the album peaked at #18 on the album charts list. As far as I know, Grand Avenue never officially disbanded but in 2011, Rasmus Walter initiated a more successful solo career when launching his eponymous and critically acclaimed singer / songwriter and pop / rock debut album consisting of songs entirely with Danish lyrics. The cover art is credited Rasmus Walters brother, Anders Walter Hansen.
[ Gaffa.dk 2 / 6 stars ]

Grand Avenue "The Outside" (2007)

The Outside
release date: Apr. 23, 2007
format: cd (EMI 3926582)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,16]
producer: Richard Rainy
label: EMI Music Denmark - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 3. "Bullet" - 4. "Monday Morning" - 5. "The Outside" - 7. "Anything That's You" - 8. "Closer" (live)

3rd studio album by Grand Avenue and the band's last with EMI. The style remains the same as on the predecessor, She from 2005, and the album is a bit like: "Was this not a song from the 2005 album?". I really can't spot any progression, and what's worse: the album (again) lacks substantial material. The title song is a fine composition, though, it also displays the band's weakness as it sounds too close to something else. Something you've heard before, either by U2 or R.E.M., and the vocal of Rasmus Walter just has that combo sound of a laidback Stipe and a high-pitched Bono in a combination that you basically never asked for. Many people tend to compare the band to Coldplay, and I hear notes and a vocal that could be linked with that - listen for instance to "Bullet" and "Anything That's You", but I really think that U2 and R.E.M. are easily the biggest influences throughout the lifespan of Grand Avenue, and on this album that inspiration is simply too strong. More than anything, the album basically lacks originality. Like was the case on the two previous albums, the cover art is credited Rasmus Walter's twin-brother Anders.
[ Gaffa.dk 3 / 6 stars ]

Grand Avenue "She" (2005)

She
release date: Aug. 22, 2005
format: cd (EMI 3380622)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Bryce Goggin & Grand Avenue
label: EMI - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "On Your Side" (4 / 5) - 2. "Playground" - 3. "The City's on Fire" - 5. "Beautiful Mistake" - 6. "After the Rain" - 10. "She" [non-album version]

2nd studio album by Grand Avenue released two years after the debut is the highly anticipated follow-up to a fine debut. The style is basically the same, although, the sound has become more sophisticated, multi-layered, but still founded on guitars and Rasmus Walter's characteristic and fine vocal. The album is produced by Bryce Googin who has previously worked with The Lemonheads, Apples in Stereo, Madder Rose, and Joan as a Police Woman (aka Joan Wasser). Wasser plays viola and has arranged the strings for the album, and Fred Kevorkian, who has worked with major artists such as Sonic Youth, Lloyd Cole, Cassandra Wilson, etc., has mastered the album. So, things are pretty much laid out for an expected international album release that wouldn't go unnoticed. And She does start off on the highest level - again, much like on the debut with promises of greatness, but it also drops too soon in quality. It never becomes poor or mediocre, but occasionally it does link a bit too much to the sound of Coldplay, R.E.M. and U2 instead of presenting an original sound.
She is not really what critics and album buyers had hoped for, I believe. The band, and perhaps especially, lead vocalist Rasmus Walter undoubtedly has potential, but the songs are not quite there. Grand Avenue puts itself somewhere in between pop / rock, soft rock of British origin and American soft rock built on a blues rock tradition - and mostly just performs better when they seem most inspired by the American touch, which has strangely, but unfortunately, been subdued on this particular album with an American producer. The cover art is credited Rasmus Walter's twin-brother Anders, who also directed music videos for the band.
Grand Avenue is still a promising act that would do better if they didn't try so hard to make R.E.M.- or U2-music. She is an album with international sound but at the same time also presents an uneven collection of songs with a little too much fill.
[ Gaffa.dk 3 / 6 stars ]

Grand Avenue "Grand Avenue" (2003)

Grand Avenue [debut]

release date: Oct. 9, 2003

format: cd (EMI 5927422)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Nick Foss, Rune Nissen-Petersen; Grand Avenue

label: Medley-EMI - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "What's on Your Mind" - 2. "This Is Not an End" - 3. "Take It as It Comes" (4 / 5) - 4. "Everyday" - 9. "As You Are" - 11. "Come 'Round"

Studio debut album by Grand Avenue consisting of vocalist Rasmus Walter Hansen also on guitar, harmonica, and Rhodes, Niels-Kristian Bærentzen on guitar, Marc Charles Stebbing on bass, and with Hjalte Thygesen on drums. Early on, the band was "promised" a golden career by international artists including R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe. Others saw the band merely as a clone of British soft rock bands and especially Coldplay. I found this particular album quite promising and have never found the bold Coldplay nor Chris Martin analogies in either Grand Avenue nor in the voice of Rasmus Walter. He does; however, at times sound like the aforementioned Stipe, and the band has generally more American indie pop rock-roots in its style than britpop, imho.

The album contains great tracks and a few fillers but all-in-all it's a fine debut.

[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6 stars ]