FamilyFans Music

###

LOVE AND RADIATION

All Star United / 7 Spin Music

Fan Appeal: All Ages

Genre: Rock / Pop

All Star United's Love and Radiation is an awesome album release that is way overdue. After taking the world by storm with their self-titled debut in 1997, and follow that up with the smash hits on CDs like International Anthems for the Human Race (1999) and Revolution (2002), front man, Ian Eskelin, and ASU took a five-year break before finally coming together to produce 2007's Love and Radiation. Suffice it to say that five years is too long for a band like All Star United to hide themselves away.

This CD is full of the classic All Star United sound, and they are still full of cheeky criticism of the shallow Christianity and inauthentic faith. This is evident in the song "Song of the Year" which is about how there must be something wrong if Christian musicians are trying to impress others, and aren’t really in it for God. It is quite funny the way they make fun of the status quo in the CCM industry - but there is so much truth in it too. This song will make you laugh and cry at the same time, and it will challenge you to be more than just another person who's looking for a word to rhyme with "Jesus." All by itself, "Song of the Year" is worth the price of this CD.

Another great song here is the title track, "Love and Radiation." It is about the incomparability of truth, authentic love and, using rollicking guitars and Ian Eskelin's stylized vocal delivery, the song compares love to all sorts of outrageous things like a diving board, radiation, and even a limousine. One more cool song on this album is Before You Break My Heart, a tune features some neat vocal lines and has a really catchy beat to it.

One of the weaknesses I noticed on Love and Radiation was the slower songs - like There’s Gotta Be Somethin’  - didn’t seem to fit the power-driven flow of the rest of this album. That disappointed me because the slower songs incorporated into previous albums like their self-titled debut and International Anthems for the Human Race were some of my favorites on their past CD’s. Also, although ASU’s style is to be intentionally cheesy at times, there seemed to be a little bit too much of it on this album, and that made me feel like skipping a track or two at times - something you just can't do on the ASU CDs of the late 1990s. I guess my biggest problem with Love and Radiation was that I absolutely LOVED ASU's previous CDs...and I felt like, in some ways, this one just didn't measure up to the power-packed creativity and sonic excellence of days gone by.

Still, overall, this is another strong album from All-Star United and a great introduction for new fans in your family who haven't heard their previous work. It's packed with catchy rock melodies that (believe it or not) both I and my parents enjoyed. So, with that it mind, I can easily recommend it to pop/rock fans of all ages in your family.

FAMILYFANS RATING: B+

If members of your family like this CD, then you may want to try…

-All Star United (self-titled), All Star United, Pop Rock. The first ASU CD that is quirky, but fun all the way through

-International Anthems For The Human Race, All Star United, Pop Rock. A rockin’ album that oozes energy.

--Tony Nappa

###