“Leave This Town: The B-Sides” is an EP released on March 15, 2010, to iTunes.
Listening to these six tracks, it’s hard to believe they were left off. The quality is there.
The personnel is Chris Daughtry on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Josh Steely on lead guitar, Brian Craddock on rhythm guitar, Josh Paul on bass guitar and Robin Diaz on drums.
“Long Way”
Written by Chris Daughtry and Jason Wade from Lifehouse.
It’s got that Lifehouse vibe, but Daughtry’s voice is so unique.
Having a stable band behind Daughtry’s voice, makes all of the songs sound genuine and not over-produced, regardless of the money and time spent in studios to over produce em.
“One Last Chance”
Written by Daughtry, Mitch Allan and David Hodges.
Its too similar to “Life After You” in the verses and is probably a reason why it wasn’t included. But its still a worthy track, with a Chorus that reminds me of “Learn My Lesson” just a bit more aggressive.
And there is a harmony solo.
“Get Me Through”
Written by Daughtry and rhythm guitarist Brian Craddock and it’s in the alt-rock dropped D arena vibe.
Check out the Bridge vocal melody.
“What Have We Become”
Written by a songwriting committee of Daughtry, rhythm guitarist Craddock, ex-drummer Joey Barnes, bassist Josh Paul, guitiarist Josh Steely and songwriter/bassist Tommy Henriksen.
It’s basically a mid-tempo heavy rocker with a Chorus riff that reminds me of “Pour Some Sugar To Me” and a worthy guitar lead.
“On the Inside”
Another mid-tempo rocker written by Daughtry, Richard Marx and Chad Kroeger.
Flip a coin and let it land in your hand Heads you gonna stay but its tails
Taking a chance is easier said than done. Writing out a plan is easy, actioning the plan is a different story altogether.
“Traffic Light”
Written by Daughtry and rhtynm guitarist Craddock.
This one is a favourite, another mid-tempo rocker which is a cross between “September”, “Tennesse Line” and “Supernatural”.
Man that Chorus.
Wow, so catchy for a B- Side.
“Back Again”
This is a great rock track, written by Daughtry and Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace at the time and two of the greatest hard rock voices to come out in the 2000’s.
The Chorus is Arena rock.
But you will be listening and saving this song because of the bridge, when Daughtry starts singing, “we’ve been down this road before”.
It’s that good it comes “back again” for the outro.
These B-sides are A-sides to me.
Their not on Spotify but YouTube has em so check em out.
Chris Daughtry said that Daughtry is a band. The first album, has Chris Daughtry on the cover, plus a picture of him in the booklet and on the back cover there is a picture of a band. But all the songs were written by Chris Daughtry and outside writers and the music was played by session musicians.
So after getting some flak about his band, “Leave This Town” has a cover which shows a band, leaving town. And while the songs are written by Chris Daughtry, with outside writers, the music is played by the band members and some songs have the band members as co-writers. Of course contractual issues would come about with this band arrangement ideal, because the label deal with RCA Records is with Chris Daughtry only.
So.
“Leave This Town” was released on July 14, 2009, by RCA Records. I like it better than the debut as it’s a hard rock album done in a style I like.
I’m a big believer that quantity equals quality. 70 songs were written for this album, narrowed down to 19 for recording in the studio and 12 songs made the final cut, with the other tracks made available as bonus tracks for different digital stores.
Daughtry co-wrote the songs on the album with Richard Marx, Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, Jason Wade from Lifehouse, Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace, Eric Dill from The Click Five, and Mitch Allan from SR-71 and Tommy Henriksen, along with the usual suspects of Brian Howes, Ben Moody and David Hodges. No Max Martin or Dr Luke this time around.
The songs written with Marx, Tedder, Gontier and Wade didn’t even make the standard edition of the album, but were released as bonus tracks in the various markets and then as an EP called “Leave This Town B-Sides”.
The band for the album is Chris Daughtry on lead vocals and rhythm guitars, Josh Steely on lead guitars, Brian Craddock on rhythm guitars, Josh Paul on bass guitars and drums were handled by Joey Barnes on tracks 1 to 6 and Robin Diaz on tracks 7 to 12.
Howard Benson is back producing and Chris Lord-Alge is mixing. Session guru, Phil X also made an appearance to do some additional guitars. Again, RCA spent a lot of money to make this album a success, but only three singles were released from this album compared to the seven singles from the debut. Regardless it still was a success.
Certified platinum in Canada and the U.S and Certified Silver in the U.K.
For the charts (although the Charts were become irrelevant at this point in time), it was a Top 10 album in Canada, New Zealand and the U.S (also going to Number 1). It was a Top 20 album in Australia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
“You Don’t Belong”
It’s listed as a Chris Daughtry track and it blasts out of the gate with its heavy metal like intro before it moves into a Nu-Metal like riff.
The verses are more relaxed with clean tone guitars and a vocal melody dominating while the Chorus is loud and angry.
“No Surprise”
The song writing committees begin, with Daughtry, Chad Kroeger, Eric Dill, Rune Westburg and Joey Moi listed as writers.
This was the lead single for the album. As a single it is certified Platinum for sales in the U.S.
Lyrically, it’s about a break up that both sides saw coming.
An acoustic guitar starts it off with a catchy vocal melody. It reminds me of the songs that Mutt Lange was doing in the 90’s with Bryan Adams and Shania Twain.
The physical single had the Adam Gontier co-write “Back Again” as the B-side. This track is excellent and hard to believe that it was left off the album.
“Every Time You Turn Around”
Written by Daughtry and Andy Waldeck. Loud drums and grungy like guitars kick it off, but the verses remind me of the Classic Rock era.
The bridge vocal melody, although brief is my favourite part of the song. And like all the songs on the album, there isn’t a verse or chorus or bridge, which isn’t catchy.
And yes, finally we get some melodic leads and outro leads in the songs.
“Life After You”
The second single, which also has a certification from the RIAA for sales in the U.S, this time its at Gold and closing in to Platinum.
Chris Daughtry wrote the song with Nickelback vocalist Chad Kroeger, producer Joey Moi and Brett James.
It was actually Kroeger who offered “Life After You” to Chris Daughtry.
Daughtry wasn’t sure if the song would fit with the band, but the melody was that good and once he wrote the bridge, the song could not be denied.
“What I Meant to Say”
Daughtry and Brian Howes proved to be a good song writing team on the first album, so they are back again on this one.
A rocker, reminding me of Jovi and “Have A Nice Day” album. And a guitar lead is heard, although its less than 10 seconds.
“Open Up Your Eyes”
Written by Daughtry, Ben Moody and David Hodges.
It’s got a Chorus built for the arena.
“September”
My favourite song on the album, written by Daughtry and guitarist Josh Steely.
It’s got this Coldplay “Fix You” section in the middle of it. Check it out.
It’s also the third single, inspired by Daightry’s childhood memories growing up with his brother in Lasker, North Carolina.
“Ghost of Me”
Daughtry and Howes are back with a track that sounds like “Bounce” from Jovi.
For me, it’s the back half of the album which really connects.
Check out the Chorus.
Its massive.
“Learn My Lesson”
Written by Daughtry, Mitch Allan and Chris Tompkins.
A ballad which is another favourite with a good melodic lead.
“Supernatural”
A rocker and another favourite, in the vein of Jovi’s “Bounce” album.
This one is written by Daughtry, Josh Paul and David Hodges.
The lead break echoes Richie Sambora.
“Tennessee Line”
Written by Daughtry and guitarist Brian Craddock, this country song is also another favourite.
Country superstar (albeit a very reluctant one) Vince Gill guests. And for Gill to perform is a real coup as he doesn’t just appear as a guest at every invite.
I thought that this would be a single, as it would crossover into the Country charts, but it never was released.
“Call Your Name”
The official closer, written by Daughtry and drummer Joey Barnes. It percolates on acoustic guitar until the 2.38 mark, when the whole band kicks in for the guitar solo moment and the Bridge to Chorus to come.
It looks like my playlist shuffle is stuck in the song titles that begin with B. Here is the list of songs driving in to work today.
Breakin Free – Tesla
Be Somebody – Thousand Foot Krutch
Beautiful – Since October
Back Again – Daughtry
Believer – Three Doors Down Black Rose – Trapt
Beautiful Mourning – Machine Head
Breakin Free is from the rock band Tesla and it is from their hardly heard 2008 album, Forever More. It is the Brave New World from Iron Maiden, meets Tool intro that hooks me, and the spiteful lyrics resonate with me. Even though the song deals with a relationship break up, it could mean any situation where a person that you trust and liked ends up making life a living hell.
I’m done with swallowing my pride And the truth in the end denied You know it makes me sick how you’re so quick to always criticize You never find fault in yourself You’re always blamin’ someone else
Breakin Free is written by the band, along with classic rock producer Terry Thomas. If anyone remembers the 1991 album from Foreigner (the one with Johnny Edwards on vocals), Terry co-wrote most of those songs as well, along with the Bad Company albums released between 1988 and 1992. That is why the song sounds classic but modern.
Be Somebody is from Thousand Foot Krutch. It’s from the fan funded The End is Where We Begin album, released in 2011.
We all wanna be somebody, we just need a taste of who we are We all wanna be somebody, we’re willing to go but not that far
Isn’t that so true. We all want to be recognised for something. In order to get there, we end up changing who we are. We sell our souls for money and fame. We betray the most important person, ourselves. The lyrics bring it all home, we are willing to do what we need to do to be somebody, but we have boundaries as to who far we will go.
Beautiful is from Since October. It is from their debut 2006 album Gasping For Hope, that they released as an unsigned band relying completely on Myspace to push it and sell it. In the end it got them signed to Christian label Tooth and Nail, and so far they have released another two more albums after that.
It is the Duran Duran – Come Undone similarities that grab me. For some reason derivative works in pop and rock work, however in metal, if they are too similar they are decried.
You’re completely perfect but perfectly incomplete You’re lacking only me but you acted like you didn’t want to know me
Unrequited love. The lyrics are nothing earth shattering, and very adolescent like, and that is what works with the song. Of course the guys in the band were in their early twenties when they wrote this song.
Back Again is from Daughtry. It is the bonus track or b-side to the No Surprise single, that comes from the Leave This Town album released in 2009. It is a classic rock song. It deserved to be on the album.
We’ve all been down this road before, I give it all, you wanted more I’ve only got myself to blame
That is the best part of the song. It is where Chris Daughtry really shines on the vocals. It is a song Chris wrote with Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace, well ex Three Days Grace now and produced by Howard Benson, who is the mainstream go to producer for metal and rock music these days.
Believer is from Three Doors Down. It is from the 2011, Time Of My Life album. It is very different to what Three Doors Down are renowned for and it works. The intro rocks, and the melodic lead kicks things off nicely.
I would have been in doubt When this started out That everything would turn out this way First it was a phone call Then it was another From a mother who was ready to play
It’s written by the band, and at 2.57 it’s short and sweet, but hectic just the same. Of course the sound is very modern like, thanks to Howard Benson again. Sometimes, we need music to have a laugh with, and in this case, I get that from the lyrics, about a married lady who wants to play, only for her affair to be busted up by her husband.
Howard Benson’s story is interesting, going from being a keyboard player, to a producer, to the Vice President of Giant Records, to an A&R rep for Elektra and now Warners Music. This is proof that you don’t go to 0-Riches in an instant. It takes time and a lot of work.
Black Rose is from Trapt. It is from the 2008 album, Only through The Pain. It is a ballad with a killer chorus and a killer ending.
Black rose your thorns are cutting into me for the last time Black rose I watched your petals wilt away I couldn’t bring you back to life You were always where the sun could never go, I never wanted you to have to be alone But I couldn’t find a way to help you grow, Black Rose
It’s written by vocalist Chris Brown and songwriter, Adam Malka. It’s produced by Garth Richardson from Chevelle/Atreyu fame. These lyrics found a connection within me, due to my struggles dealing with my cousins fall into mental illness. I had to cut loose, as if i stayed he would have dragged me along with him.
Beautiful Mourning is from Machine Head and it is from the best metal album of the two thousands, the mighty Blackening album released in 2007. The song has been said to be about Rob Flynn, tripping on acid and taking a razor to his wrists. It is the most depressing words every put to paper.
My redemption is knowing This will be over My aggression, I fear I’ve lost control Who is this man I said? Mirror reflects a stranger Fist shatters the despair Awake the pain to anger
The music was written by Robb and Phil Demmel, with lyrics by Robb. This is real. Life isn’t all about the highs and the laughs even though we take photographs showing that is the case. Life has a darker side to everything. We are fragile, we can snap at any minute.
destroyerofharmony 