Album Review: The Elevations (Self Titled)
My experience with The Elevations recently released CD seems to have left me with many dilemmas concerning the band and this release. I’ve caught the band live a few times, and I’ve always found The Elevations to be a fun, if fairly predictable live show. Sean Ike was always charismatic on stage, and live, his strong voice meshed well with Erika Herron’s, even if Herron’s stage presence usually seems more ‘wallflower’ than ’soul diva.’ The songs are a lot of fun in concert, too, as the tight, clean pop guitar parts chime into walking basslines and active rhythms, while the horn section tends to give the songs a crisp edge.
Proof of this is given during the last track of The Elevations recent EP, a surprisingly clean live recording of “1st Class Love” that represents the band’s live sound well (admittedly, it only hints at the energy given off by actually being in the room while the band plays). The problem, though, is that of the eight tracks here, only that live recording really seems to represent the band as well as an Elevations live show does.
All truths being told, some of the songs themselves are quite good. “1st Class Love” is a solid horn-drenched soul single if there ever was one, while “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” features a fantastic chorus, fronting a great bit where Ike and Herron’s voices run together on a fine, “What you see is what you get,” vocal. The laid-back, organ-drenched “Right Through You” is a great vehicle for Herron’s more sultry vocal tones, and “Love’s Gone” is a fabulous duet, as the walking bassline and ‘urgent’ guitar noodles during the chorus give the track a real funky undertone.
The problem, of course, isn’t in the songs — it’s in the performance. Something about these recordings make it seem like the band is over-taming this studio performance a bit somehow. I understand that a lot of bands put on over-the-top performances that completely eliminate most concepts behind their recorded material, and that’s all fine and dandy. Most of those bands still carry some of that energy through to the studio recordings, though. Repeated listens of The Elevations release just leaves these songs feeling flat somehow.
In all honesty, there’s nothing really wrong with The Elevations release; while some tracks are unspectacular, everything on the disc is at least passable. It just seems that after having seen a few live gigs, the band really could’ve done so much more with these songs. While the disc should be enough to tide over fans of the band between live gigs, casual listeners might find themselves getting something a little different than what they’re expecting. – Gary Blackwell