3 Doors Down – The Better Life: Deluxe Edition CD Set
Sound:
B Music: C
Rock’s
last major cycle, Grunge, added a post-vocal cycle of male singers emoting in
lower tones that in most cases sounded like Eddie Vedder impersonations,
including 3 Doors Down. They rose and
fell quickly, propelled by the hit Kryptonite from their hit 2000 debut album The Better Life. They had only so much to say and were not the
greatest rockers, but Universal Music has seen fit to issue the album in a new
CD set in their terrific Deluxe Edition series meant to make fans and
archivists happy.
Unlike
other sets that might add bonus tracks or outtakes, this set simply has the
original 11-track album on the first CD and a concert from the time on the
second. That gives you the idea of how
flat this whole set is. Lead singer Brad
Arnold can sing, but he never does much to challenge himself in the way of
range or pushing limits, while the material is not as introspective about
relationships as it could be. As
compared to similar bands, they are on the barely memorable side. As compared to a Toad The Wet Sprocket, they
can forget it.
The PCM
16 bit/44.1kHz 2.0 Stereo sound is not bad, is a recent recording and is about
as good as you could expect for the format.
The set once again includes an informative booklet, but the only
addition is an essay about the band and how good they are. Overall, this is for diehard fans only.
- Nicholas Sheffo
