Hello fellow WhargarblTV fans. Welcome to my sixth album review of 2011. For this particular review I return to the reggae/rock genre with the latest and brand new material from the band Top Shelf and their second album entitled “The Sound”. If you have been following my past posts on Top Shelf & their days in the studio, you’ll be able to tell that the band has been hard at work on their material and been anxious to release The Sound. The Sound was released May 24th, 2011 on their independent label Highest Vibration Music. Check out the track listing below:
1. Moonlights
2. Under Arrest
3. The Sound
4. Live In Your Dream
5. Waiting feat. Zion Thompson of The Green
6. Fire And Ice
7. More Than A Feeling
8. Finding Out feat. Cootdog of Mystic Roots
9. We The People
10. Grace Awakes
11. We Still Burn feat. Gina Marie Lo Monaco
12. No Money In My Dreams
13. Lift Up
14. No More part 1
15. No More part 2 feat. Energy Alchemist
16. Rather Than A Billion
“The Sound” is a huge step up and is filled with many changes from Top Shelf’s last album “Time To Wake”. For one thing Top Shelf’s previous guitarist Sean Erickson is not on “The Sound”. Top Shelf has a new guitarist on board this time. His name is Korey Ross and brings totally different guitar riffs and an overall musical feel to the band. “The Sound” is filled with songs that range in musical & lyrical tone and is filled with a variety of emotions.
“The Sound” stars off perfectly with the song “Moonlights” and starts off with the lyrics: “We come to bring the fire so don’t sit back and deny it no. This is how it’s gonna go; rip and rock the reggae flow”. The song is filled with plenty of energy and is fun to listen to throughout. To me this is one of the songs that make you want to get up and dance to. I hope the listener agrees with me. The postive energy carries over to “Under Arrest” which is an updated version from the previous unreleased version that didn’t make the cut onto “Time To Wake” but the older version can still be found on Top Shelf’s Facebook page. This version breathes new life into “Under Arrest” and still continues to rock. Personally I enjoy this version more. “The Sound” comes up third. This song is a little bit slower paced from the first two tracks but picks up tempo plenty during the chorus. On “The Sound” I believe that this is the first time that you really get to hear what newcomer guitarist, Korey Ross is capable of musically and it’s a perfect combo with the vocals of Carter Lane, drum beats of Drew Nicoll, and bass lines by Chad Goodin.
“Live In Your Dream”, “Waiting”, and “Fire And Ice” are all fun and upbeat songs. Tempos from each and chord progressions vary but all are enjoyable to listen to. One of the things that stands out on “Waiting” is that Top Shelf brought in guest vocalist Zion Thompson from The Green and his vocals easily stand out but is a pleasure to hear.
The seventh track off of “The Sound” is a song called “More Than A Feeling”. This tune is a little more slower paced and I consider this piece to be somewhat of a love song but I enjoy the first verse that opens up the song: “Said I’m wrapped up by the way you make me move. I told you twice I’m a crazy fool. Up in this life I can get tied up and rude badness comes and I think I can’t make it through. And upon my mission to deviate the stress and pain, you come upon me like sweet November rain. Remembering there’s a time to listen and a time to fight. You give me the guiding light and upon the most dark of nights. The Angels by my side oh in her I confide but my reverence goes up to the most high”. This is one of the songs that I enjoy listening to a lot and I hope other listeners enjoy “More Than A Feeling” too.
“Finding Out” is perfect for the middle of “The Sound”. This is another song that you’ll want to dance too and his fun to listen to. What also makes this song great is that Top Shelf brought in guest artist Cootdog of the Mystic Roots Band to do vocals along with keyboards. “We The People” and “Grace Awakes” are two songs that come out rocking Top Shelf style from the very beginning. These two songs may vary in tempo but they’re fun to listen to.
For the eleventh track off of “The Sound” comes a darker song called “We Still Burn”. This tune is slower paced and has a darker feel lyrically. “We Still Burn” is a song that I enjoy and the lyrics that stick out most to me are: “It got to the point we surrendered with a joint and celebrated our end together. After three days of detox now I’m looking in my inbox trying to find your lost letter. The ones that explain all the problems and your pains that I could never make better.” This is a song I thought I would never hear from Top Shelf but still it’s worth listening to. Also I enjoy hearing guest vocalist Gina Marie Lo Monaco; she does an amazing job on “We Still Burn”.
“No Money In My Dreams” keeps up with the darker/different tone from Top Shelf. The title gives away a rough idea of what the song is about…..barely having enough money to get by. It is a great song and is a constant reminder to everyone to push harder in life so they can do well. “Lift up” is a more positive and righteous song and I believe it starts out perfectly with the lyrics: “Now I don’t sniff no coke nor smoke no sinsemilia. But that’s just me you got a different feeling”. If you need a song with a positive message, “Lift Up” is the one for you.
Coming close to wrapping up “The Sound” is two different versions of the song “No More”. Both versions are non-reggae and have more of rock feel to them. My personal favorite is the second version. Top Shelf teams up with Energy Alchemist for this version and totally has a different musical feel. The sounds on this is similar to nightclub dancing beats and synthesizers.
Finally, Top Shelf closes “The Sound” with a song called “Rather Than A Billion”. This song gets back into their reggae feel and is also filled with positivity just like “Lift Up”. My personal favorite lyrics on this song is the chorus: “we can move on as one; as one. We can move on as one. Rather than a billion”. “Rather Than A Billion” is a perfect closing song to “The Sound”. All the band members: Carter Lane, Chad Goodin, Drew Nicoll, and Korey Ross come together perfectly on this song.
“The Sound” is an album that is filled with all kinds of musical sounds and has different lyrical topics. To some this might be a difficult album to digest at first but I personally love every single track off of this album. I really appreciate all the hard work and dedication that has been put into “The Sound”. If you haven’t been exposed to the reggae/rock genre, I suggest adding Top Shelf: The Sound to you collection. It’s a great album to start off with; especially if the listener doesn’t want to hear any songs about marijuana. With that said, my rating for Top Shelf: The Sound is WORTH OWNING.
If you’re interested in Top Shelf: The Sound, you can download their mp3′s on Itunes
Top Shelf can be found on the web at:
http://www.topshelfhigh.com/ also on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube as well
