Analog Heart (2006): Album Review

Analog Heart is David Cook’s post Idol album. Technically not his first as he had finished a handful of albums with his previous band “Axium”, but this album seems to be regarded as Cook’s first studio album. Cook has talked about the album as more of an experiment/demo of his music to get his material “out there”, he followed up the statement, however, with his re-assurance of love for the album. The album cover is nothing fancy, with no members of the band or Cook himself on the cover, but it’s not a bad cover either. The album opens with “Straight Ahead”. The high energy track eases the listener into the music nicely. The two chorded intro is catchy as hell until it pulls back in time to hear Cook’s voice. The song continues to keep up the high energy it starts with throughout. If the album was an official release from, say, RCA, I could see this being a single, maybe the first, off of the album. It would be a great introduction to Cook and what he can do, as it does introduce what’s to come on the rest of Analog Heart quite well. “Don’t Say A Word” spills the same high energy that “Straight Ahead” does into it, though it feels even more guitar driven than “Straight Ahead” does. The verses all feel like they are building to a release when the chorus hits. The lyrics aren’t as good as we know they’ll become but that’s not where this songs shines. The catchy melody is where the song gets it’s due. “Fall Back Into Me” continues with the rock edge Cook has showcased thus far. Lyrically the song could sound like a ballad, but musically it another harder song, but not as much of a high energy song like the first two tracks. Personally I love the song, but nothing really stands out too much about the track, which is why I find it difficult to pinpoint what’s great about the song. But I do llike it. How’s that for a review! On “The Truth” Cook’s words speak for themselves, “I see your face in every single thing I do, you changed me.” Cook’s sincerity comes out through the lyrics. Vocally, however, it sounds like Cook is flat in a note held towards the end of the song, maybe it’s the recording quality I heard of the track, but I always notice it. It may be nothing. However, the song is great, one of my favourites. “Searchlights” doesn’t stand out from the start with a softer, down the octave verse and chorus. The 2nd chorus hits hard, as Cook sings the first chorus again only up the octave and it sounds great, very powerful. It helps that the lyrics that support the melody are just as good and give another layer to the song. “Searchlights” is a definite highlight of Analog Heart. I want to point out also that I love the little guitar riff/instrumental between the chorus and the second verse.

The beginning of the second half of the album gives us “Porcelain”, the hardest rock song on the album. Right from the first note of the song we hear the guitar and drums hit hard. David’s vocals also sound the rawest they’ve been on the album, supporting the harder instrumental. The lyrics as well support both the vocals and instrumental as they talk about this extreme dislike for someone, potentially after a lingering relationship coming to an end and not a good end. And the song holds up to its potential. One of the harder songs on a rock album and it’s one of the best. “Stitches” starts with an auto tuned Cook, that I’m sure couldn’t been okay without but maybe it was an attempt to make the song memorable for a reason. The auto tune stops a suddenly as it appears however. When the chorus hits, the song really doesn’t go anywhere. And the chorus is also a little boring. The bridge is the most interesting part of the song with the lyrics “Stitch me up/And bleed me out”, supported by an interesting symbol/high hat sound and different vocals in one bridge. Cook goes from raw sounding to soft to loud when hitting the higher notes. But sadly it’s all the song has going for it. Maybe the outro has something, but it’s just a guitar playing the same 3-4 notes in a row slower and slower until the song finally ends. My least favourite on the album. “Let Go” starts off with some good potential, almost “Porcelain” sounding, but the chorus hits and the song loses its potential. Not as bad as “Stitches” but the song could’ve been great but ended up lacking. I do like the whispering of the lyric “reaction” before the second chorus. The song ends on an ear squealing loud guitar scream for the last 20 seconds and it’s a little jarring at first, but with every listen I’ve come to prepare myself for the length of the scream. Again not a bad track, and it has a refreshing guitar solo but not the stand out it could’ve been. “Makeover” is a beautiful little song. It starts with an acoustic strumming guitar. The song also has some of my favourite lyrics on the album. “She fell out her broken legs won’t let her walk away/From this town that couldn’t’ give a single shit either way”, “What are you looking for?/Are you looking for something more?/It’s not me”. The guitar solo, though short, is my favourite on the album, it compliments the song perfectly and leads the song into the final chorus beautifully. A stand out song, not just because it’s one of my favourites, but also in the way it sounds. It’s the most stripped back musically that Analog Heart has been. “Silver”. What’s to say? The song starts with this haunting two-noted piano instrumental. Cook sings his heart out on the song and it’s awesome. This song could have been so cheesy, but the lyrics ride the line perfectly and Cook’s performs with such conviction it’s hard to not feel something out of the song. Especially since everyone’s felt that sort of feeling of not being good enough, coming in 2nd place, getting silver. The song is by far the best on the album and deserves the finale spot on Analog Heart. I can’t even say too much about the track as it speaks for itself. Give the song a listen. Analog Heart is an interesting little record. On one hand you’ve got fans that love it, well deserved, but you can hardly find it anywhere. I’ve had to illegally download it online. On the other hand, you’ve got Cook that loves the album and even named his 4th studio album as a call-back to this album, yet he still hasn’t re-released it anywhere. I could understand somewhat being under RCA, but the first thing I thought when he left RCA was, “Oh God I hope he’s still gonna make music”, and the second thing was “maybe he can re-release Analog Heart now.” I understand he wants to get new music out there but… I also am pretty sure Analog Heart was one of the package deals under PledgeMusic with a demo for “A Daily AntheM” included, but the package was way out of my price range. And by the time I saw it, it had already been sold out. So who knows. I love the album, and here’s to holding a hard-copy one day. Favourite songs from favourite (1) to least favourite (12): 1. Silver

2. Searchlights

3. Makeover

4. Straight Ahead

5. Porcelain

6. The Truth

7. Don’t Say A Word

8. Fall Back Into Me

9. Let Go

10. Stitches