Our look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to the self-titled album from the ABC-endorsed, Conversations With God-alluding Colorado outfit The Fray:
• “If nothing else, this sounds more like a band than ever, and despite some bumps in the road of recording, the songwriting is still solid, the melodies still memorable. Isaac Slade’s voice has grown only more sure and strong, particularly on ‘Say When.’ ” [Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News]
• “Summoning earth-moving art on demand was surely a tall order, and while you can’t fault the Fray for trying to strike a hot iron, you can excuse the rest of us if we try to stifle a yawn.” [Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press]
• “Recommendation if the Fray want to save more lives: Put the spleen back in.” [Christian Hoard, Rolling Stone]
• “One track is called ‘Say When.’ How about now?” [Mikael Wood, EW]
My only interest in this album is whether it can top Billboard/Soundscan by next week. I mean, the Fray is a fundamentally faceless band, but they did move a staggering number of copies of the last one, and the bar for No. 1 at this time of year is so low.
They’ve got little competition, in terms of either new releases this Tuesday or holdovers. I assume Bruce’s Superbowl bounce will largely be contained within the previous chart week; any extra sales he gets in the week that starts today will probably be extra copies of the two Born albums lighting up the Catalog chart.
@Chris Molanphy: I doubt it. The Fray is a classic example of a band with lots of fans of their SONGS but not them. My guess, you’re looking at the 50-60k range (or is that enough for a #1 spot these days)?
@2ironic4u: See, right there, you’ve hit it: if Bruce has a soft enough second week, something in the 60s would be enough for them to top the chart.
Plus, I think I disagree with you on the sales number — it’ll easily be better than 60K. The iTunes sales they’ve been pulling since “You Found Me” dropped suggest they do have fans who like them as a brand; it’s a dull-ass song, but a lot of people downloaded the single in the first two weeks because they wanted the new single by the Fray. (I know, mystifying.)
I’m thinking they pull the kind of number a hot indie band like the Shins gets in its first week — not because they’ve got that kind of cred (their cred is in fact anti-indie), but because it hits the same level of passion with a certain type of middle-of-the-road cafe-pop fan. I’ll bet that translates into something in the low 100s.
@Chris Molanphy: Hmmm, I suppose you’re right. Maybe 100k then? Weirdly, I enjoy The Fray much more than I enjoy The Shins.
Last night while taking a cab back, I saw another cab that was topped with an ad for this album. It seemed to be a co-op ad with… Virgin Megastore! Everything must go, I guess.
@Maura Johnston: Yeah, I’ve been seeing ads for this album on taxi tops too. It was actually the first time I remember seeing an ad for a new album on a taxi.