Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

You know actually, The Skies of America use to be known as The Better Days. This is ironic when you consider the feel good because the sunshine is on my face sound of  the act's album, Shine.

This is a rock album married to straight pop.

Here, there are no crunching detuned reminders of why life in some form or fashion sucks. Nor is there really a progressive air of complexity due to changes in musical keys or off time signatures. What Shine essentially presents is a bubblegum package of catchy and accessible pop rock wrapped in sugary melodies. It's not enough that you get a cavity from listening to this album. It's required that you fall into a diabetic coma. It's the type of album just dying to burn up the adult alternative charts. In fact, there should be a slew of "hit" videos shown on VH1, you know right after reruns of "I Love New York" and "Celebrity Fit Club." Soundwise, it calls to mind "Stacy's Mom," The All American Rejects, and John Mayer when he's not trying to be the reincarnation of Eric Clapton. That's perfect genetics if you're trying to go for a few hit singles. And it seems like tracks like "Move!" and "She's The Kind Of Girl" are just waiting to burn up the charts. The problem however, is if you did choose one track as a hit, you'd be likely to forget about the rest of the album. 

See, it's another safety record that knows how to say the right nice things, hit the same sugar chords, and play the same sweet melodies. But it refuses to really go beyond its safety net. And the problem with this is that almost each song becomes more of an identical reproduction of one another instead of individual songs that work together as a cohesive unit. Oh sure, there are small variations in the music, but there is almost nothing strikingly different about most of the tracks.

 Still, to say that this album is without any exceptions is completely wrong. Tracks like the classic rock sounding "Get Up, Get On" and the arena ready "Here We Are" offer something a bit more. And because of this, it easy for them to not only get stuck in your head like some of its other kin, but its also easy for them to stick out from the rest of the homogeneous pop rock muddle of "Shine." It's just a shame that those two redeeming tracks of the album come at the end.

In short, Shine is basically a box of hollow chocolates. It's sweet and tasty but essentially devoid of any different flavored fillings.