Everclear - Welcome to the Drama Club (CD)

"Welcome........" A Welcome Into For New Everclear

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Sep 15, 2006

Pros: The songs sound like older Everclear, but anage to evolve as each song progresses. There are also some newer sounding songs.

Cons: Fans may not like that a lot of the songs sound very familiar.

Something old, something new, something used, something.....no wait, wrong thought. But it kind of applies to Everclear; or this incarnation of Everclear at least. Art Alexakis is back minus former members Greg Eklund and Craig Montoya--who were the ...original other members of Everclear. In their place, Alexakis is backed by four (yes four) new members--Brett Snyder (drums), Davey French (guitar), Sam Hudson (bass), and Josh Crawley (keyboards). "Welcome To The Drama Club" is an interesting first outing for this new incarnation of Everclear. Many of the songs have a sound similar to the original band's work. For instance, "Now" starts off sounding much like "Unemployed Boyfriend" (off the band's 2000 release, "Songs from An American Movie Vol. 1"). But the intro is the only similarity. The song immediately evolves into its own work from there on. "The Drama King" starts off much the same way, sounding like "Santa Monica" off the band's debut, "Sparkle and Fade". But again, it evolves into its own piece. And then there are tracks like "Hater" which sound like a b-side from 2003's "Slow Motion Dydream". Even with this, there is plenty of newer sounding material to go along with the new band in songs like album opener, "Under The Western Stars", Taste of Hell", "Portland Rain" and so many more. Even with a new band and label behind him, Alexakis has proved yet again, why Everclear is one of the most underrated and underappreciated bands in the business even if it is now Everclear in name only. Read more Less