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Second album time already for Haven, who feel like they've been
around for only five minutes but have in fact clocked up almost three years
in our consciousness. Starting your record with a song called Change
Direction would seem to indicate a new approach.
It doesn't. All For A Reason takes the successes of the first album - a
good melody, the instantly recognizable voice of Gary Briggs and a "wall of
sound" guitar accompaniment - and subtly develops these components. So
subtly in fact that you won't notice the difference on songs like the
recent single Wouldn't Change A Thing, a cross between Say Something and
Til The End.
Change Direction itself serves as an intro to Have No Fear, where Briggs
rather unimaginatively sings "I wait for you, I always do, Can't fight the
feeling, that I am feeling". It's fair to say that the lyrical invention is patchy on this record, another taste being "you've got to see things can only get better cos together we're better" - funnily enough on the song
Together's Better.
Johnny Marr produces six of the tracks, and these are the ones
most closely associated with the first album stylistically. Where the
invention seems to go up a notch is in the four Dave Eringa productions. Title track All For A Reason is more reflective from the outset, an
effective low range unison vocal from the band over a loping bass and
plodding drum, building impressively to a genuinely memorable chorus. What
Love Is goes faster, changing the musical direction at exactly the right
point, with Eringa's production tending to underplay Briggs' more tremulous
moments and bringing out more bass. Don't Say A Word is reflective and
moody, cueing the strings in a Feeder kind of way, and the closing Getaway fares well, despite the disappointing "I'm falling" vocal clich�.
Briggs's voice is one of the main reasons behind Haven's success, but
needs to be treated with care. The trembling start on slow builder The
First Time is overdone, while Something Moved Me has a conflict between its
easy-going accompaniment and its ever fraught vocalist.
Not a disastrous second album by any means then, but not a significant
step forward either, and All For A Reason apart, lacking the sort of
melodic inspiration this band showed on their debut. Undoubtedly it's a
grower though, and the signs are that if the band cast their net
producer-wise they could yet come up with the goods.
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