Tyrone Wells' Hold On

Tyrone Wells' major label debut, Hold On, was re-released on Universal on February 6 2007. It was also released on an independent label in 2006. His songs have been featured on such TV shows as Rescue Me, One Tree Hill, North Shore, What About Brian, Numbers, The Mountain, Windfall, Wildfire, Ghost Whisperer, Bedford Diaries, Three Moons over Milford, Meet the Barkers, and in a film, Everyone's Hero. Relentless touring in order to build a following combined with the TV exposure have given this bland singer/songwriter a national platform.

I listened to the album one and a half times: once to get an overview and once to be able to write about the details. One and a half listens were all I could take.

The first song, "What Are We Fighting For" is the required generic protest song. Without a specific issue about which to care, this song will be fast forwarded every time. Didn't Bob Marley already use the refrain, "People Get Ready?" The choir at the end is nice while he is breaking it down one time, but could have been put to better use on a more flavorful song, perhaps one with substance. Also, rhyming "one another" with "brother" is played out.

Track 2 makes the mistake of basically paraphrasing the Rolling Stones with the line "make a grown man scream." In "Start Me Up" it was "you make a grown man cry." Maybe this isn't Wells' fault though; sometimes one can hear a song so many times it gets into the subconscious and the plagiarism is unintentional. If ever a song was overplayed enough to become a part of the collective unconscious it is "Start Me Up." Nice take off on every pick up line ever with "angels don't wear high heeled shoes." Also, the end of the song, when it becomes a reggae beat, is lovely. The track would have been more of a standout if this rhythm has been used throughout.

The third song, "Sea Breeze" has a great hook. Upon the second listen I realize the guy's voice reminds me of Edwin McCain's, which is not an unfavorable comparison. Without paying attention to the insipid lyrics, girls will love this power ballad. It even has an eighties hair metal throwback guitar solo!

"She's Leaving," track five, sounds like a bad copy of a Maroon 5 song. The site on which I listened to the album, MP3.com, will not let me skip tracks (and I don't care enough to keep listening to remind myself of the details) but I remember liking track 10, "Jealous Man," the first time. Other than that the only song that made any positive impression was "Sea Breeze" and that was because of the McCain comparison.

This record is so mediocre that it will probably be a huge hit. After all, if you guarantee that everyone will like one song, you can be a superstar. Wikipedia and Amazon both compare him to John Mayer. This is an insult to Mayer because I don't hear any virtuoso guitar playing here; however, Tyrone Wells may also appeal to Mayer's core audience: young women and the men who desperately want to sleep with them. My prediction? Look for Tyrone Wells on a Pepsi commercial near you this summer.