Posted by C. Eric Banister

Category : Music, Reviews

Tags: Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand:  I received the sample of the soon to be released Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband album “Dream Big” and I became disappointed. Not disappointed from the music being bad, but disappointed from it only being a sampler (only six songs). THIS CD ROCKS! The first track on this sampler started off with “Even Superman” and once you get picked up it won’t let you down. These guys have a great sound together. Once you get into “New Emotion” you hear a bit of the banjo skills these guys have, but really they are only setting you up for “Banjo Boy” which has some good banjo rips. “Dream Big” is a great song that helps move you on in day to day struggles. Maybe this is why this song had become the bands new anthem. My personal favorite of all the songs on this sampler is “Simplify.” When I heard this I was on my way home from work thinking of all the crap I had to do the following day when this track came up and helped me forget about it all. The name of the track should explain it all. “Banjo Boy” is a great little jam with A LOT of banjo in it. Craig Miner really struts his stuff at the end of this track. It’s great! These guys are great together and bottles up to Ryan Shupe writing these songs. Right now I am giving these guys a four bottle cap rating and hoping when the full album is released, I can check it out and that they are just as great. OK, being that we have recieved the full album, I’m giving my take on on it:They didn’t let me down on this one, it’s great! With the full album, I was able to listen to "Rain Falls Down" which has a reggae sound with a banjo, yes a banjo, they work wonders with that thing (not to piss off any banjo players by me calling it a "thing"). Let me tell you why I enjoy Ryan Shupe and the Rubberbands new album, I couldn’t put my thumb on it until after I read a statment by Shupe, "I realized that our songs are a celebration of life." This complete album is a positive outlook on life. It’s different then a lot of the other crap other music genres are coming out with. Just check out some of the song titles: Even Superman, Dream Big, Simplify, and Never Give Up. Sounds pretty damn positive to me. Be sure to check out their groovy website at http://www.Shupe.Net