cB News____issue #3, August 2005 Options

[cBNewsStaff]

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Editors’ Notes

As always, we would like to take this time to thank our readers that encourage us to keep this newspaper consistent, by PM, viewing regularly, and applying. We hope all our readers understand how hard we are working to bring cB News to createBlog. Even with school starting, a few of our team members gave extra effort to write more than one article required of them to bring you all this excellent third issue. Though we've pulled through in the past two publications together, this issue truly says a lot about our team work.

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- The cB News Team

Administrators: Fae [uninspiredfae], James [MarchHare2UrAlice]
Editors: Anna [Azarel], Justin [CrackedRearView], Ruth [suddenly she]
Runners: Kiera [mzkandi], Sidney [ItzOnlySydney]

(Note: Recent additions to the cB News Team are not listed.)

Table of Contents
01 Editors' Notes
02 Unveiling: krnxswat- cB News Staff
03 The Push for a News Archive - cB News Staff
04 The First cB Debate Competition - cB News Staff
05 Xanga of the Month: July 2005 - Ruth [suddenly she]
06 Unneccessary Rap Battles - Radhika [not_your_average]
07 YOU'RE Hosted? - Sammi [headphones]
08 The Celebration Has Been Cancelled - Justin [CrackedRearView]
09 School of Thought Scores - Justin [sadolakced acid]
10 College Tips - Fae & Anna [uninspiredfae & Azarel]
11 Not Your Parents' Rock 'n' Roll - Ashley [antix10_kos]
12 Summer Concerts: Warped Tour, Ozzfest, & Sounds of the Underground - Brie [Despise]
13 Album Review: In Between Dreams - Anna [Azarel]
14 Featured Films - Anna [Azarel]
15 Featured Poem- cB News Staff
16 Advice Abby - "Abby"

[cBNewsStaff]

Album Review: In Between Dreams
by Anna [Azarel]
August 2005

Album Review: In Between Dreams



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Lyrical genious Jack Johnson released his newest album In Between Dreams earlier this year on the third of March. After setting high precedent with Brushfire Fairytales, especially, and also On And On, his third album is a slight lackluster. The CD itself is encased with an attention-grabbing yellow cover, and the booklet itself is creatively designed and brightly covered. Anyway, let's get on with the tracks.

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1) "Better Together" -- A simple opener to the album - it's innocent and sweet. It's easy on the ears, and the gentle feel to the song begs to call forth a yearning for someone to be together with.

2) "Never Know" -- Jack draws out the words in the chorus of this song so that it has a sort of.. swinging feel to it. It's an upbeat song with a slight edge that can only be described as "funky."

3) "Banana Pancakes" -- Starting out with pouring rain, it proceeds onward with quirky lyrics and catchy beat as Jack convinces his lover that they can spend the rainy day together inside. A sweet song, definitely.

4) "Good People" -- This is one of my favorites of this album; it's a rather laid back song that begs the question, "Where'd all the good people go?" A very well-done song with a peppy guitar part and beautiful vocals.

5) "No Other Way" -- A mellow and tranquil song that offers contrast from the previous track and also the following track; I suppose it could be considered a ballad - nothing too special about this song.

6) "Sitting, Wishing, Waiting" -- This track has been released as a single, and also has a video that's quite trippy to go along with it; many fans rushed to buy this album upon hearing this track, and it is undoubtedly the most complex song on the album, and perhaps the most sophisticated song that Jack's released thus far.

7) "Staple It Together" -- With an up-tempo guitar intro and clever lyrics, this track turns out to be a little monotonous. There's a lot of percussion in this track, which contributes to the up-tempo feel of the song. However, it's a fun track about a man who can't do anything right.

8) "Situations" -- The shortest track of the album seems to just be a filler - the lyrics themselves are very straight-forward, and the track is seemingly easily forgotten, just an interlude; it sounds more like a sound clip than an actual song, but that's just it - it's filler.

9) "Crying Shame" -- I adore the chorus of this song - Jack's voice shines through as he cries out (no pun intended), "It's such a crying, crying, crying shame!" Usage of certain perc instruments, I'm not too sure which they are, gives this song a sort of swingy beat; it's also very lyrically simplistic.

10) "If I Could" -- My other favorite of this album - it deals with a slightly more serious matter, a newborn child who only has two weeks to live. It touches the heart, and the repititious guitar part creates. a somber atmosphere, fit for the song.

11) "Breakdown" -- Jack repeatedly refers to an "old train," seemingly nonsensically, which can get annoying, but the instrumentals are gentle and melodic. This quieter track of the album is nice - and what I believe to be the guitar part sounds similar to a ukelele, giving the song a tropical island feel.

12) "Belle" -- This not-even-two-minute track is short and sweet; it starts out with just instrumentals for a minute before Jack starts belting in French. This track is also humorous, since after speaking a few lines of French, Jack sings "Je ne comprende pas francais," translated meaning " I do not understand French."

13) "Do You Remember?" -- I'm rather fond of this nostalgic lovesong which tells a story; it's sweet and perhaps a little corny, but the song overall isn't bad, regardless of how cheesy the lyrics are.

14) "Constellations" -- A very nice closing track with a gentle looping melody and beautiful vocals that draw vivid imagary.

15) "Constellations (Acoustic)" -- I believe this bonus track is just an extra treat for fans who purchased the album off of iTunes and is not included on the actual album. I personally prefer this to the actual version of the song.

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I've had this album for about two or three months, after a friend bought it off of iTunes, and it is slightly disappointing. However, the album definitely grew on me, as I began to realize the subtle differences in each track; it does have the distinctive flavor and spice of Jack Johnson in all the tracks, even if at first listen, all the songs sound similar. Overall, on a scale of one to ten, this album merits an eight out of ten. It's great for any mood - but in comparison to Jack Johnson's other albums, it's definitely lacking.