The album starts off with "The Hawk is Dying." It starts off with light guitar, and then the vocals enter, and soon after so does the rest of the band. By the first word you can feel the emotional backdrop of Vehicle. The drums and bass compliment the guitar and vocals quite nice. From each softly set hook, to every word that tells it's own tale, Vehicle is very stable. Track three, "Kosinski's Bathtub," continues with the gentle way of Vehicle, while the vocals pour out more emotion. Track five, "Walls of Bliss," starts out with more guitar, and the soothing vocals that become a trademark of Vehicle throughout the album. Very light percussion lines the song, and light bass as well. Some nice backing vocals also visit the song a tiny bit. But the main focus of the song is the guitar and the vocals. Track six, "The Lonely Crowd," starts out with some nice bass, and some guitar as well. The bass part of the intro is quite good, and lends a lot to the song. The backing vocals on this song add more emphasis to the words, and make the song that much stronger. Track eight, "Fast Talker," keeps up the pace of gentle vocals, soft guitar that still packs a punch, bass, and drums that keep the beat quite well. The CD ends with "Cheated." Another slow, but meaningful song done in Vehicles' soft, emotional, but still powerful way.

Vehicle definitely has talent. A talent to appeal to a vast crowd, a talent to compose catchy music that is soft and gentle, but still gets its point across in a way that comes out powerful in the way it is said. I would give this CD an A-. Although quite good, the slow pace goes all the way through, and never finds time to pick it up a little. A great CD to fall back and relax to, but if you find yourself wanting to listen to this CD while you are not ready to rest, you might end up losing momentum, and find yourself wanting to put a new CD in.

Vegas Demilo: Before It Gets Old

Vells: Vells

[Issue One // July-August 1997]