The Gracious Few
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Highlights: Appetite, Guilty Fever, Crying Time, What’ Wrong, Silly Thing, Closer, Sing
When I first heard about the Gracious Few, I was extremely skeptical. First off, it was 3/4 of the band LIVE joining up with the singer and guitarist from Candlebox. I’ve been a fan of LIVE’s music for many years and as for Candlebox, they were a guilty pleasure of mine. I loved singer Kevin Martin’s voice and really dug their debut album. So why was I skeptical if I was a fan of both bands? I was skeptical because both bands have such a distinct sound that I wondered if it was going to be just a rehashing of their former selves.
After hearing the opening track “Appetite” it was loud and clear that The Gracious Few are not trying to reclaim the past but to lay out a path to the future. The songs on this album are versatile, well written, and well executed. Songs like “The Few” and “Guilty Fever” are strong groove oriented songs with a dark quality to them that really boast what an awesome rhythm section Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer are. “Crying Time” and “What’s Wrong” has the band slowing things down to a more melodic and mellow pace but my personal favorite song is “Sing” which is more on the more mellow side. “Sing” has so many subtle complexities in the music that it makes for a really awesome listening experience and it this is where guitarists Chad Gracey and Sean Hennesy really shine through with some fantastic work.
What I find impressive about The Gracious Few is that their only motive here was to create a great listening experience and they succeeded beyond my own expectations. These guys could have easily gone the route of trying to replicate the success of their past bands but instead chose to do something new and throw it the wind. Aside from the fact that Kevn Martin’s voice is reminiscent of Candlebox, everything else about The Gracious Few is a new entity all it’s own. The Gracious Few is far from a rehashing of the past. It is a creative and musical rebirth that has spawned a collection of songs that will open some new doors for this band, maybe even doors that were missed the first time around.
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