The Audition- Great Danger

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: March 16, 2010

Genre: Pop punk, Alternative

When I bought the CD: I don't remember when exactly I got it, but it was within a week of the CD being released.

Track Listing

1. Let Me Know
2. The Art of Living
3. You Ruined This
4. He's All You Want
5. Ms. Crumby
6. Can You Remember?
7. Interlude
8. Honest Mistake
9. Run Away
10. Never Heard Again
11. Final Adventure
12. Stand Up and Fight

The Audition lineup on this CD:
Danny Stevens- vocals, guitar, keyboard
Seth Johnson- guitar
Timmy Klepek- bass
Ryan O'Connor- drums, percussion

L-R: Timmy, Ryan, Danny, and Seth

About The Audition: 
The Audition has been a band since 2003. So far, they've released 4 CDs: Controversy Loves Company in 2005, Champion in 2008, Self-Titled Album in 2009, and Great Danger in 2010. They left their record label in 2010, and in 2012 they released their first EP, Chapter II. Since then, they haven't done anything and I haven't heard anything from them. Danny had vocal surgery in 2012, and is about to do his first solo concert since that surgery. A few months ago, the band made a post hinting at them working on a new CD, but I have yet to hear anything else about it.

My Opinion about The Audition:
They're in my top 5 bands, for sure. All four of their CDs are really great, and they get really regular play on my iPod. They're one band who hasn't ever drastically changed their sound. They have one CD that's sub-par compared to the others, but overall, I really enjoy them. I've created several Pandora stations off of my favorite bands, and The Audition's station is one of the few that almost never plays a song I don't like. So, they're a pretty good representation of my taste in music. It makes me really sad that they aren't well-known at all. They aren't well-known even among pop-punk fans. Their music videos have less than 100,000 views each on Youtube. It's just SAD.

About the CD:  

There's not a ton to say about this CD. I've already done a post on the CD proceeding this one, Self-Titled Album (click here to check that out), and as I mentioned on that one, their sound doesn't really change between the two. Although, once again, their sound never really drastically changes. 

IMHO: 
I really love all of The Audition's music. They're such a solid band. I think I like this one slightly less than Self-Titled Album, but that difference is definitely incredibly miniscule. The one complaint I do have about this CD is that the songs tend to mold together a little. A few of the songs sound pretty similar to one another, and it takes me a while to figure out which verses and choruses go together because they're so similar. On top of that, there are a couple other songs that are really easy to confuse with each other.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Let Me Know- 10/10. When I first listened to this CD, I listened straight through, so I heard this song first. It got me so excited about the direction of the CD, and I was instantly in love.

The Art of Living- 8.5/10. When I listen to this song, I remember how great it is, and that I really like it, but then I tend to forget about it and forget what it sounds like. Often, that's what my 8.5 rating denotes: a good song that I tend to forget about. If it was more memorable, it might have gotten a 9.

You Ruined This- 10/10. When the intro to this song starts playing, I instantly become happy. I go back and forth between two as my favorite song on the CD, and this is one of those two. Danny's vocals are on point.

He's All You Want- 9/10. I love the chorus of this song and the build-up to the chorus. The intensity paired with Danny's vocals and contrasted with the softer verses is pretty awesome. Also, the bridge is really great. Did I mention that Danny is a great vocalist?

Ms. Crumby- 10/10. This is the other song that goes back and forth as my favorite song. The chorus, the chorus, the chorus. Danny going in and out of falsetto, the power chords, the intense percussion, it just all combines into one really awesome entity.

Can You Remember?- 9/10. The intro guitar line is really great. Both the verses and the chorus are really great, and Danny's vocals are really great throughout. Seriously, Danny has an impressive voice.

Interlude... I'm not sure how to really give a rating or discuss this since it's just an interlude... so let's just move right along.

Honest Mistake- 9.5/10. I don't think I've mentioned this, but Danny has a really excellent voice, and it sounds especially good in the chorus and when he hits that really awesome and gritty high note. The other aspects of the song are great, but Danny's voice is definitely the star here.

Run Away- 8.5/10. I don't know why, but even though I really enjoy acoustic songs, I never like the acoustic songs by my favorite bands as much as I like their full band songs. But once again, Danny's voice is highlighted, so I'm pretty happy.

Never Heard Again- 9/10. Once again, the chorus is really great, and Danny's voice is awesome. I really feel like a broken record. I'm not sure what else to say. I like it!

Final Adventure- 8.5/10. This one suffers from the same thing as The Art of Living. It's a good song and I like it when I listen to it, but I constantly forget about it and how it sounds. Maybe it's just not as memorable? Who knows.

Stand Up and Fight- 8.5/10. I really enjoy the bass in this song. It has a cool groove. I don't have as much to say about this one. It's not that I forget about this song, I just don't quite like it as much. Also, Wikipedia doesn't have this song as part of the track listing, but I definitely downloaded the entire CD from iTunes and this song was on it.  

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Favorite Songs: You Ruined This, Ms. Crumby, and Let Me Know

Least Favorite Songs: The Art of Living, Final Adventure, and Stand Up and Fight.

Video! 

You Ruined This music video

Ms. Crumby lyric video

Rating: 9/10. It would have gotten a 9.5 if not for the fact that so many of the songs on the CD sound similar to each other. If it just had slightly more diversity, it might have gotten that extra .5. But it's still a really great CD!

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What did you think about The Audition? Let me know in the comments! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!


ALSO: Apologies for the lack of posts within the past week. I just was not in the mood to do a Tumblr challenge on Saturday, and my weekend was so insanely swamped with homework and events that I didn't have time to devote to the chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar that I was going to post. And I don't want to rush it, because Chapter 12 is my favorite chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar. It may not be my favorite once the entire thing is done, but of everything already finished and the stuff I've mentally written, it's my favorite. I LOVE IT. I hope you're excited about it, because I definitely am.

The Audition- Self-Titled Album

Hey, y'all! Once again, it's been a while since I've been on here! I've been blogging quite a bit since getting out of school, and I finally was able to get on this one. As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: April 28, 2009

Genre: Alternative, Pop-Punk

Track Listing

1. The Running Man
2. The Way You Move
3. My Temperature's Rising
4. Love With A Motive
5. Stand On Your Feet
6. It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone)
7. Over My Head
8. Los Angeles
9. Everybody Is Someone Else's Secret
10. Sign. Steal. Deliver.

The Audition lineup on this CD:
Danny Stevens- lead vocals
Seth Johnson- guitar
Timmy Klepek- bass
Ryan O'Connor- drums, percussion

The Audition, L to R: Seth, Ryan, Timmy, Danny

About The Audition: 
The Audition has been a band since 2003. So far, they've released 4 CDs: Controversy Loves Company in 2005, Champion in 2008, Self-Titled Album in 2009, and Great Danger in 2010. They left their record label in 2010, and in 2012 they released their first EP, Chapter II. Since then, they haven't done anything and I haven't heard anything from them. Danny had vocal surgery in 2012, and is about to do his first solo concert since that surgery. Supposedly, the band is still together, but their twitter hasn't been touched in ages. Danny's twitter handle is still @auditiondanny, so I'm keeping up hope that they're still together.  

My Opinion about The Audition:
They're in my top 5 bands, for sure. All four of their CDs are really great, and they get really regular play on my iPod. They're one band who hasn't ever drastically changed their sound. They have one CD that's sub-par compared to the others, but overall, I really enjoy them. I've created several Pandora stations off of my favorite bands, and The Audition's station is one of the few that almost never plays a song I don't like. So, they're a pretty good representation of my taste in music.

About the CD:  
This is The Audition's 3rd CD. It deviates just a little from the sound of Champion, which was released just the year before. Self-Titled Album and Great Danger (2010) have fairly similar styles, though as I said before, their sound has stayed fairly consistent. 

IMHO: 
This is one of my favorite CDs of theirs. My only real complaint is that there aren't more songs! The first 3 songs are the strongest for me. Each of them has a unique and interesting sound, and there's definitely a reason that My Temperature's Rising is their most recognizable single. It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone) delivers the CD's softest song, which begins acoustic, but gets up into a good rock sound. A few of the songs sound similar, but overall it's really enjoyable.

I'm going to try something new on this one. I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

The Running Man- 10/10. I didn't like this one at first, but it's really grown on me and I think it's a really interesting song.
The Way You Move- 10/10. Maybe not the most creative song in the world, but it's so much fun to listen to.
My Temperature's Rising- 10/10. Definitely my favorite song on the CD. It's got a really cool sound to it.
Love With A Motive- 8.5/10. Not much of an explanation for this one, I just enjoy it!
Stand On Your Feet- 9/10. I really like the lyrics in this one, especially the combo of the music and lyrics in the chorus.
It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone)- 9.5/10. This is another one that grew on me. This is really odd to say about a song by The Audition, but it's a really pretty song!
Over My Head- 8/10. One of the weaker songs. It's a pretty typical sound for the band, and isn't quite as memorable as the other songs on the CD.
Los Angeles- 9.5/10. This one's kinda interesting, because the guitar isn't as prevalent for a lot of the song, so the vocals and drums are really important. I think it sounds really cool.
Everybody Is Someone Else's Secret- 8/10. Like Over My Head, this one is very typical for the band- nothing distinctly interesting or cool.
Sign. Steal. Deliver.- 9/10. I think this one's another interesting song. Not much else to say, it's just a cool song.

Favorite Songs: The Running Man, The Way You Move, My Temperature's Rising, It's Gonna Be Hard (When I'm Gone), and Los Angeles.

Least Favorite Songs: Over My Head and Everybody Is Somebody Else's Secret. There's nothing wrong with these songs, and I do really like the whole CD, but these are the less memorable ones of the bunch.

Video! 

My Temperature's Rising music video

The Way You Move

 Rating: 9/10. 9 is the closest to the actual average of the ratings I gave the songs, so I'll put it at a 9.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Did you like the changes I made to the format? Have any questions? What did you think of The Audition? Let me know all of this in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!