For The Broken

One Step Away

Independent release, 2011

http://www.onestepawayband.com

REVIEW BY: Paul Hanson

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/01/2011

Do you remember being in love for the first time? It felt like you were on top of the world. You probably made 20 cassette mix tapes of all the ballads from all the bands in your collection, including Spandau Ballet, Chicago, and Air Supply. (Lots of Air Supply.) Boston-area pop rock band One Step Away has captured what that felt like and the thoughts you had about the person you had fallen in love with. A couple of their songs could have ended up on one of your mix tapes—if this wasn’t 2011.

One Step Away is my new guilty pleasure. Every fiber of my heavy metal fan tendencies tell me I should shelve this with disdain and never spend time with it. I should hate it with more passion than the venom I spewed about my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Lulu. I should cave in to the cliché about judging a book by its cover and all that. They look like a boy band. They look talentless. Yet when you get past the sappy lyrics and into the material, I am swept away into their vision of love.

The release kicks off with "Here We Go" and it sets the tone for the release. One Step Away sings about holding hands and being with the one that makes their world complete. They sing about being in love. They sing about an ideal world where love conquers all. They are innocent, they are joyous because of the emotions they feel, and they are damn catchy. Their lyrics are simple. "I need you / You need me too…After all we've been through / I need you" is an example of what you will find here. Guess the name of the song? Yep, it's called "I Need You."

"Next To You" is a perfect song for this band. The song is not quite a ballad and definitely not an up-tempo rocker like "Here We Go." The next track "Riptide" is another strong track. Based upon an acoustic guitar rhythm, the drums enter the song around the minute mark and provide a strong foundation for the lyrics. "Hook Line And Sinker" follows with an upbeat rocker. There are more lyrics that could make you cringe: "I need you now / And I can't get enough / Give me your hand / You've got the right stuff…Hook line and sinker / I'm going down fast / Because my love for you will forever last." Frankly, you're not going to hear any great lyrics on this release. It's on the opposite end of the spectrum as a band like Rush (I didn't know the spectrum of music stretched this far…).  

I'm here to tell you that it's okay. One Step Away has apparently surrounded themselves with the right people. Someone should be getting a slap on the back for the marketing of this band. I'm convinced few bands in this genre will be worth listening to but One Step Away is worth spending your valuable time. I liked this release once I got past initial impressions.

Rating: B

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