Fefe Dobson – Fefe Dobson Review
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 01.01.2004
Take me away, take me far away from this CD…
Fefe Dobson—Fefe Dobson
Released: December 9, 2003
Label: Island Review: Negative
Man, I am so disappointed after listening to this album. Let’s see, unique and beautiful young woman? Check. Music from the grrrl rock genre?, check, catchy, poppy, rocky single? Check. Sounds like something that’s right down my lane, right? Not so fast.
There’s been a decent amount of buzz for this album and the single “Take Me Away” has (rightly) earned a “buzzworthy” label from MTV. However, the potential of that song—which combines some very catchy rock hooks with a punk sensibility from Dobson and wrapped in a pop covered coating—is never achieved in this album.
The main problem with the album comes from its identity crisis. Is it a rock album? Punk? Pop? A ballad album? The album never really stays in one genre for too long and that hurts the album’s identity. Ultimately, this comes off as intentionally done to pander to as many demographics as possible. This means that while fans of each of the above genres might like two or three songs, they’ll be ultimately disappointed with the whole of the album. Most of the songs just seem too manufactured and that is unfortunate, considering the potential found in some of the better songs.
So let’s start with the good, since there is some good to the album, with the first three out of four songs very well done. “Stupid Little Love Song” is a cute pop-punk ditty—fast, catchy and quick. Fefe’s vocals here reminds me of Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo) and she does an amicable job of being energetic and playing up her “punk-ish” personality, though, the song’s punk cuteness becomes wearing by its end. “Take Me Away” as stated above, is the most fully formed song—it’s a damned good choice for a single and is definitely worth a listen. “Everything” is a slower song and it kind of strikes me as oddly as a fusion of the finger picking in “Under the Bridge” and the sound of some of Lisa Loeb’s songs. Actually, here (and in a few other songs) Dobson sort of sounds like Michelle Branch at certain points, mostly in the chorus. Definitely another good song and it should be the second single. Of the first four songs, only “Bye Bye Boyfriend” is a misstep—it builds itself up slowly in the verse, reminding me sort of like the slower Evanescence songs, but then the chorus completely ruins the song with an annoying punk chorus that is plain awful. It’s like getting a decent tasting scoop of vanilla ice cream and then at the bottom of the cone you find that there’s a scoop of brussel sprouts waiting for you… ugh.
Therein is the problem of this album—the songs that try to meld genres together fail miserably and come off laughable, even if some of the chords sound decent. The other songs that stick to one genre tend to be laughably bad. The album starts to go downhill about a minute into track 5 “Rock It Till You Drop It”, which starts off with an excellent rock hook but it marred by the god awful sample of Tone Loc of all people who states “Come on now, rock it till you drop it… you know what I’m saying”… um, no dude, I do NOT know what you’re saying. It’s not enough that this sample is repeated throughout the song, but then out of nowhere the chorus turns into some sort of N-Sync / Backstreet Boys song, and I am NOT down with that. That chorus effectively kills the song and its corpse is further shot dead by the dance breakdown in the bridge. Ugh. Not good.
Then it gets worse—“Revolution Song” has nothing revolutionary about it—just a syrupy and weak modern ballad ala any C-level pop singer. Or 3 Doors Down. The chorus is literally “na nana na nanna nanna nanna.” No, that’s not going to cut it with me. It’s such a clichéd and basic track that it sounds like it could have been programmed into one of those of old Casio keyboards with the prerecorded beats. No, actually, those sound better
“Kiss Me Fool” sounds like a bad Broadway power song, saved (again) by a decent rock riff and bass drum pounding in the chorus. The songs tilts back towards being decent with a manic rock out ending, but it’s a bit overdone for my tastes. The badness continues with “Unforgiven”, which cannot be forgiven for its blatantly trite nu-metal riffs and Dobson’s laughably bad plaintiff “Daddy, Daddy” cries. The song gets worse from there.
A saving grace comes from “We Went For a Ride”, which is a slow but very well done song… in fact it’s the first track since “Everything” that sounds extremely genuine and organic. There’s a haunting guitar track that syncs up with a compelling echo of Dobson’s voice on the track’s refrain and a killer breakdown in the bridge that reminds me of really a good Pat Benatar rock song. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT… this song is more what I hoped the whole album could have been and its damn upsetting that it isn’t. Unfortunately this song is the exception that proves the rule for this album.
The last three tracks (and the hidden track) are all horrible and ridiculous in their own way. Only “Julia” is partially redeemable due to its “Abba” like sound. “Give It Up” is the aural equivalent of a root canal and “8 X10” is a “Vanessa Carlton” piano ballad special. “Let It Be” it ain’t.
I think you get the point about this album. It is crippling with inconsistency in quality at the best points and its laughingly clichéd at the worst points. Reading from Dobson’s bio, it seems like she put a lot of genuine work effort and inspiration went into the album. She cites the Chili Peppers and Cobain as some of her influences, but the album doesn’t click in the way it should for the listener who has similar music tastes as the artist.
Art Direction—Don’t be fooled by the album cover of Fefe striking a pose in amidst a cool blue brick wall background and the other cute pictures for you to look at-- It’s like my buddy Chris always tells me, “You can’t polish a turd, beavis.”
The 411: “Tell me who should I be to make you love me?” Fefe asks on one song and the answer is—somebody with an album that has a more consistent sound and a more consistent quality. I really, really wanted to love this album, but there are only a few decent songs here. That means a low rating from me.
