Although, now that I think about it, it probably wasn't the best way for me to be introduced to White's singing and songwriting abilities, for his debut album, "Things Change", is nothing at all like that moment of humor and live music. His album is so much more, littered with honestly written songs about heartbreak and loss, hope and change. It displays an entirely different side of him, a side with great depth and serious talent.
The album starts off with "Complete Me", a catchy power ballad that easily screams "first single" and deserves definite radio play. The strength of the opening track carries over into the upbeat "Just Friends", which benefits nicely from the addition of background female vocals in the chorus, and is followed by "I Will Miss You", a tune that despite the content of its lyrics, is sonically an energetic rock song.
Once you get into the middle tracks though, the album suffers slightly. Listening to song after song, they begin to bleed into one another and become difficult to differentiate between. This in no way means that they are bad songs; listen to them individually on their own and their quality is improved.
Perhaps a different ordering of the tracks could prevent this from happening, but then again, this whole point may be moot. After all, how many people today still sit down and listen to an entire album, track after track? Everything in this digital world nowadays is seemingly, and sadly, about the individual song or the single, not about the album as a whole. People skip around between the tracks, have short attention spans, and only listen to a few songs in any given span of time. So maybe then this melding together of the middle tracks isn't really much of an issue; I guess it all depends on one's listening habits.
Stylistically, things do get broken up a bit with "Circles", a song that refreshingly displays how Joseph Allen White is influenced by more than one type of genre and is willing to explore those influences occasionally. There's also "The End of Us", a joyful country-styled duet with Lauren Rebel, that throws in a memorable piano riff.
The back end of the album contains a few gems as well, like "First Night", a fantastically upbeat tune that reminds me of something the Gin Blossoms would've written in their 90's heyday. Not to be left out is "Piercing Green (Come Back To Me)", a song that employs good use a string section and seems to be a more radio friendly cousin of the style earlier displayed in "Circles".
"Things Change" is on the whole quite a commendable debut effort from Joseph Allen White, especially for how quickly everything seemed to come together. The production on the album happily isn't over-polished and allows White's distinct vocals to shine through with passion and confidence. Lyrically, it could be a bit stronger, and although there's room for improvement there, at least his lyrics come from real experiences and aren't vague, fictional and recycled nonsense like most of what is present in today's hit music.
I have no doubt that after time his lyrics will strengthen with each new effort and hopefully stay just as truthful and personal as they are here. I'd also like to see him explore his other influences a bit more on future efforts, for there's great promise in what I already heard on this album and a little diversity in style is always welcomed.
It's clear that "Things Change" is a labor of love, one that is widely appealing to others and largely enjoyable to listen to and experience. It's a solid first step in what I hope will be an ever-evolving and great musical career.
One can purchase Joseph Allen White's album "Things Change" from the links below:
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