” HOLD On ‘Til The NIGHT” GREYSON CHANCE
Interscope Records
This Greyson Chance album is full of marvelous tunes created together with the brilliant writing/engineering team of Eric Bellinger, Kosine, Aaron Cox and DaLutern who have teamed with young Greyson to produce a smashing repertoire of hits!
Track List & Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqOu3Kh8KFA
It starts with the amazing “WAITING OUTSIDE THE LINES” which Greyson revealed to the world on the Ellen Degeneres Show last year. It’s a cry for animation, for progress and attention; for taking chances in life! “I’m here to help you notice the rainbow”. There’s a whole world around us just waiting to be explored!” — There is a patient love behind it; soothing, encouraging! A brilliant vanguard song, sensitive and intelligent.
The second song,”UNFRIEND YOU“, is a soaring heartbreak melody with an internet reference. “My last move is to unfriend you”. Greyson’s skillfull treble tells us his learned lesson! “You give up to everybody what I thought was mine”. This has a fast pace and snappy beat. Vocals soar into dreamy falsetto. Terrific.
Slower and more sentimental is the ballad “HOME IS IN YOUR EYES“, which talks about missing someone. “I wanna be holding your hand”. Greyson’s voice with an unpretentious honesty here, tender, partly double-tracked — some nice falsetto switches.
The title tune “HOLD ON ‘TIL THE NIGHT is a soft rock piece about resilience and persistence. “Thoughts inside your head that creep up to get you, but I believe this is right”. It has a thrumming chorus, traces of BON JOVI or reminders of ROXETTE maybe. Good upbeat stuff.
“HEART LIKE STONE” is a darker song with a dramatic, rhythmic build up. It’s a hurting-heart song. “Late at night when I’m at parties my gloom fills the room”. “All around there’s silver and gold, but my heart never heals, my heart only feels like stone”. Some nice audio effects give this song a haunting quality!
The sixth song, “LIL LONDON GIRL“, reminds me a lot of some Billy Joel tunes. It has a brighter rock-beebop beat. Greyson’s voice here is both street-hip and boyish sweet. It’s one of two breezier songs that balance the album.
My favorite tune on the album is “CHEYENNE” which, incidentally, is also the name of Greyson’s school. With fairly straight-forward lyrics, it reminds us of the gamble we take searching for love. I like the honesty here, the piercing quality of Greyson’s voice singing this repetitive plea — not to be cheated. “A guy like me with a girl like you-please don’t break my heart , Cheyenne”. His talent of bringing private emotion into his music is Greyson’s greatest quality.
“SUMMERTRAIN” is a beautiful, romantic ballad which has a classic sound. “All’s forgiven on the summer train”. Traces of Fleetwood Mac or America here, with brilliant vocals at the end. Dreamy, uplifting!
Apparently Greyson had some trouble with an earlier studio team, but these songs attest to kindred spirits under the management of Guy Oseary and Troy Carter, who have already worked with Madonna, Kutcher and Gaga. Greyson says of his own album, “it’s not a fake record”, and it certainly isn’t. The album cover shows him sitting on a piano with lyrics and letters drifting out, and thats what he’s selling — a brilliant musical bargain!
The other lighter song is “STRANDED” in which we catch a groovy, boppy, Caribbean-like Greyson. He’s obviously completely at ease with this style as well.
And in the final song, “TAKE A LOOK AT ME NOW”, we hear a blooming self-assertion since, after all, he has stepped up a few stairs in life! “So long to electric fences”. “You’re looking at the positive that was negative”. This song also has a power chorus, which seems to be becoming a G.C. trademark!
I am truly stunned by the quality of these songs, which are not over-produced, so that we hear a young artist’s heart beating through. “HOLD ON ‘TIL THE NIGHT” is a brilliant album by an amazing young singer, and deserves praise and glory.
rjmendera for theskykid.com aug 8 2011
Hold On ‘Til The Night is a masterpiece!
Rarely does an album of this quality ever appear, especially when the singer/songwriter was only 14 at the time of its inception. Hold On ‘Til The Night is the biggest breath of fresh air and inspiration in years. Greyson’s performance is impeccable and the songs are of stellar quality. Greyson wrote about half the songs on the album. His passionate plea in his composition, “Home Is In Your Eyes”, has moved me to tears many times, as we can all relate to wanting to go back to a happier time, to rekindle a relationship, to feel love again.
Greyson’s plaintive cries in “Cheyenne” (what a class act!) and his growing passion in “Summer Train”, culminating in a desperate wail, has me reaching for the box of Kleenex! His mastery of those delicate semi-tones, his perfect pitch, tremolo (WOW!) and conveyance of pure, deep, mature, sincere feeling is flawless. His voice is positively captivating.
Greyson’s joyful, ecstatic mood in “Little London Girl” and “Stranded” is infectious. His energetic, passionate line, “If I can’t be with you, I’d rather be alone” has an emotional intensity and a sense of unwavering loyalty that is truly gripping. The choral middle-eight in “Unfriend You” that goes, “…’cause I should have known right from the start, I’m deleting you right from the heart…” is definitely the “hook” in that song with its hauntingly appealing melody and minor notes. His use of gentle violins throughout the album is very satisfying and very classy, as are the various subtle strains of the synthesizer.
Greyson Chance could easily become the next Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett, but the emphasis in his career will be on songwriting. If Hold On ‘Til The Night is any indication of Greyson’s songwriting ability, it would suggest that this young artist is capable of producing huge musical hits in his brilliant musical career.
Hold On ‘Til The Night is the kind of album you will want to play over and over, learning and singing all the songs. The tunes are uplifting, the lyrics are moving. I purchased two copies, one for the car and one for the house; that’s how often I play it!
thanks for your great comment Stan-if you check the site you will see a review of GREYSON’s latest album, which i also found positively fascinating.Its not a big album,but there are some gems on it.Will look forward to more from young CHANCE-! rjmendera
Glad you like the album, some reviews that i have read are not that nice to Greyson. I thought it was an excellant album, and there should be more albums out there like this one.
thanks for your comment.Those people who dont like the artist will not like his music no matter how incredible it is.I guess thats LIFE-greetz -rjmendera
Excellent review. It is hard to pick a favorite song amongst the ones in the album as they are all appealing. I am loving HOME IS IN YOUR EYES – it has a certain melancholic feel and the choruses sound great. I am really happy that Greyson met my expectations – you may recall an article on TheSkyKid.com published some time ago : https://theskykid.com/music/the-wonders-of-youtube-greyson-michael-chance/ . Summertrain is another favorite of mine – overall Greyson is great at doing ballads – so I will share a fav with rj Cheyenne…but if I keep like this I will be like favoring all ( :
glad you agree skykid that the album has so many great songs its hard to pick one as a favorite-greetz-rjmendera