The Fray
were among the first of the flood of bands that combined the influence of British neo-stadium acts like
Coldplay
and
Keane
, the retro-
AOR
bands of the mid-'90s -- chief among them
Counting Crows
the Wallflowers
-- and American
emo
-
pop
bands like
Something Corporate
Jimmy Eat World
. The Denver four-piece has the requisite piano and flag-waving choruses of the Brits, the slick sound and unfailing conservatism of the
bands, and the over-emoted vocals and confessional nature that are cornerstones of
. All the songs on their debut,
How to Save a Life
, sound almost exactly alike and also exactly like you would expect -- sincere, melodic, authentic, and bereft of anything surprising or exciting. This doesn't make for the kind of record that people will want to listen to over and over again but for modern
rock
, it isn't half-bad. A couple of songs, like
"Over My Head (Cable Car)"
"Dead Wrong,"
might even sound good in the background of a
WB
teen drama. ~ Tim Sendra