Keith LuBrant - Face In The Crowd

1. All I Want To Be
2. Better Days
3. Lonely Sunday
4. The Girl Next Door
5. Face In The Crowd
6. Misunderstood
7. If You See Mary
8. Fades Away
9. Midnight Once Again
10. Hear Me
11. Where You Gonna Go
12. Feelin Alright
13. Madam Butterfly
14. Real Life

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 55:44 m:s

Review date: 31/10/2001

Email: keith@keithlubrant.com 

Keith recorded this CD's worth of material originally as demo material. The feedback he received was so good that he decided to release the CD independently. The album was recorded in Keith's own studio. He is joined by John LeCompe on bass and Joe Perez on drums. Keith handles vocals, guitar and keyboards. Keith's musical influences include Glen Burtnick, Jon Bon Jovi, Mike Viola, Andy Taylor, Gin Blossoms, and anybody else who writes a good hook!

Keith describes his music as Pop Rock or Alternative Rock. In fact, Keith plays feel good pop tunes that have a rock basis. That Alt-Rock tag is also applicable, as quite a few of the songs sport some 'alt' tendencies.

The first batch of songs are all best described as 'jangly power pop'. For me the album takes a few tracks to get going. On the first couple of tracks the sound is reminds me of early Joe Jackson. By 'Lonely Sunday' the hooks are getting more noticeable and this is continued on 'The Girl Next Door'.

The title track is a slower semi-acoustic track that has more of a rock-vibe (Bon Jovi) to it compared to the pop that has gone before. The hooks keep building with the again semi-acoustic, but this time upbeat 'Misunderstood'. With 'If You See Mary' Keith get things just right. It is an extremely catchy tune in a radio friendly format.

By this stage the album seems to have settled down and the next few tracks all do their job more than adequately. 'Where You Gonna Go?' is another highlight that rivals 'If You See Mary' for top billing, emphasizing that the album has hit it's stride by this stage.

On the closing trio the more modern influences come to the fore again. A heavy funk bassline & electric guitars herald the lightweight funk of 'Madam Butterfly'. The closer is a riff orientated track where the lead guitar is let loose.

With the list of influences that Keith quotes, he could have played it safe in two ways - either going for a straight forward traditional rock album or going for an alt-rock album and ignoring those more traditional roots. Instead, Keith has, I think, stayed true to himself and combined these to create the type of album which moves AOR/MR forward into the 21st century. I have to admit that it is still the tracks where the more traditional approach gains the upper hand that I prefer (No surprise there for regular Mood Swings readers).

Keith has created an album of upbeat modern pop rock tunes that should have widespread appeal. In 'If You See Mary' & 'Where You Gonna Go?' he has a couple of tracks that would make you sit up & listen if you heard them on the radio and if they can do that, then they've got hit potential.