At the turn of the decade, a series of bands came out with albums under the Universal umbrella. Of those bands, the power-pop trio Shades Apart impressed me the most with their album Eyewitness. The solid songwriting and absolute power of that album - combined with the placement of their song "Stranger By The Day" on the American Pie soundtrack - suggested great things ahead for this group.

Now, we're nearing the halfway point of 2001, and only one of those bands has become superstars. You can see this coming a mile away - it wasn't Shades Apart. Damn.

Their latest disc, Sonic Boom , suggests that people should give them a second chance at stardom, even if they do get off to a slower than expected start.

The band - guitarist/lead vocalist Mark V., bassist/vocalist Kevin Lynch and drummer Ed Brown - stick to the same formula that should have brought them success on Eyewitness: to-the-point, tightly-written songs with a slight punk edge and more than a little radio-friendly atmosphere. They also bring a slightly more stylish production sound - and this works against Shades Apart at the beginning.

Tracks like "Conspiracy," "Gravity" and "Beat The Beat" don't have the same kind of catchiness and snap that the opening tracks from Eyewitness had. They also sound a little too sterilized for the group's good - a suggestion that things might not improve as the album proceeds.

Fortunately for the listener, Shades Apart got some kind of wake-up call at about the one-third mark, and the remainder of Sonic Boom is used to play a serious game of catch-up. Luckily, tracks like "Got Shot Down," "Behind The Wheel" and "Superzero" have the same qualities that made the shoulda-been hits on Eyewitness so enjoyable. Even the cute factor of "Rebel Teenager From Mars" works for the band, taking the traditional "forbidden love" tale and putting a new twist on the plot.

What Shades Apart needed to do on Sonic Boom was to come out with all guns blazing, proving to people that the powerhouse that was Eyewitness was no fluke. By not putting their A-list songs at the start of the disc, the band is forced to climb out of the hole they created for the rest of the album - and sadly, many people might judge this disc on the first three or four songs.

Sonic Boom is not quite the follow-up that was expected from Shades Apart, but it shows more than a few signs of life. Here's hoping the third time in the majors will be the charm.

2001 Christopher Thelen and "The Daily Vault". All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Republic / Universal Records, and is used for informational purposes only.

Rating: B

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