Over the years we’ve seen rock & hard rock slowly erode into over-commercialized, corporate puppet shows providing music that is extremely sing songy, predictable, popish & highly corporate. I hereby call this new breed of music “Poser Rock” & I want to personally thank all the corporate giants for successfully transforming “Sex Drugs & Rock n Roll” into “Yoga, Vitamins, & Nikelback” Of course millions of musical lemmings don’t know the difference, but not everyone is amused. Talking to many music fans out there the response is overwhelming. Give me something new, something raw, something that’s pushes the envelope with a fresh sound that doesn’t leave it soul at the door. Something that doesn’t sound like Nikelback, Daughtry or Lifehouse.
So across my desk slides the new CD by Colorado’s own Ben Knighten entitled “All I Want.” What I heard put a smile on my face. It’s a nice easy flowing record that delivers solid songwriting with a nice folkish-rock feel. Knighten reminds me of a modern day Jack Johnson, Rob Thomas, with maybe a hint of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers & even Counting Crows. You will also hear a side of Power Pop, Americana & Classic Rock & even Folk. If you like the above bands you should definitely check out this CD. My favorite track is probably “The Open Door” CD is available on CD BABY & can be downloaded on I — Tunes.
My only criticism — The overall CD is not nearly to the sound quality level of other professional grade CD’s out there. However the songwriting is clearly better than what’s out there right now.
“All I Want” by Ben Knighten is clearly a solid release with many feel good rock grooves with a pleasant rock driven guitar sound that is a pleasure to listen to. It’s a record that gives us a fresh glimpse at an amazing artist & takes us back a few years — before everything started sounding like — well Nikelback.
By: Michael Morrison
[Rating: 4/5]
