“Revolution for Free” is like if the Beach boys circa 1965 were put onstage at CBGB’s (R.I.P.), cranked up the overdrive on their amps, and knocked back a few shots of whiskey.”

Jonny Lives! Revolution for Free Album Review
(click here for the full review)

Power-pop rockers Jonny Lives! sound more like they’re from Orange Country or Laguna Hills than from New York. But what says this is necessarily a bad thing? I, for one, like the beach and the beautiful Southern California sun. Nevertheless, abandon your stereotypes of what pop rock sounds like and leave your prejudices about love ballads behind. Jonny Lives!’s sophomore release Revolution for Free is just that, a revolution. It is a revolution in response to the droll rock songs that fill the airwaves and their trite and empty lyrics. Revolution for Free is like if the Beach boys circa 1965 were put onstage at CBGB’s (R.I.P.), cranked up the overdrive on their amps, and knocked back a few shots of whiskey.

On Revolution for Free, the New York rockers demonstrate that they truly understand what makes a good, solid, and catchy pop song and are able to employ that knowledge without any of the mainstream “guidance” that most rock bands adhere to. Jonny Lives! filters through the mainstream rock archetype, leaving the corporate rockstar image, boring chord progressions, and mindless lyrics behind with the rest of the dirt.

It’s Not Your Fault (This Time) is a sing-a-long that should be on every karaoke machine. Delicate layering of acoustic guitars with frontman Jonny Dubowsky’s warm-toned Gibson and the occasional xylophone create for a full-bodied introductory track that takes the listener to a level that most bands can only achieve by the end of an album.

If You Wanna Stay is one of the more melodically laid back tracks, relying on string sections in conjunction with open hi-hats and splashy rides à la drummer Jon Weber to carry the listener along when the melody isn’t as engaging as it could be. This is a purposeful disengagement, however, in that it allows a sort of calm to envelope the listener before being thrust into the next track, Makes the Difference, easily the best track on the album.

Makes the Difference sees the ambient use of keyboards and pianos heard in the first half of Revolution for Free promoted to melodic lead. It is a heartfelt song that sees the backing vocals section detach itself from frontman Jonny Dubowsky’s vocal patterns, asserting its own separate yet cohesive independence throughout the choruses. It’s almost as if the song’s message, besides that of the obvious love story, is a message to bands such as The Fray and The Bravery that, “Hey you guys are doing it ALL wrong, THIS is how you do it”.

Jonny Lives! hits a little too close to a Beatles’ tribute band on Your Money or Your Life, the least creative track on Revolution for Free. That said, it is by no means a bad song. Dubowsky’s effective conveyance of his emotions redeems the musical doldrums that Revolution for Free falls into with this song.

Vagabond Lover is a transcontinental tune celebrating influences from Jonny Lives!’s hometown of New York, the Creole south, and the band’s recording home of Hawaii. Rock meets funeral dirge meets luau on this track, equating to an appreciation of multiculturalism like that seen on The Clash’s London Calling, specifically the track Jimmy Jazz. Tracks My Favorite Song and Revolution for Free follow suit, albeit with more overdrive and progressive drums. We can only hope Jonny Dubowsky doesn’t take after the late, great Joe Strummer, and try to incorporate electronic and dub into the band.

Rounding out Revolution for Free is Still Dreaming, a simplistic yet perfect take on the traditional rock/love-ballad. The subtlety of the occasional guitar solo renders it an ambient and supporting tool rather than a showboat performance. For a band not produced by acorporately financed producer, Jonny Lives! is shown to be more than capable at self-producing.

When all is said and done, Revolution for Free is one of the more solid pop-rock albums of the year, and through it, Jonny Lives! exemplifies their ability to dissect the classic rock ballad and pop hook, organize them as seen fit, and put them back together in revolutionary way, pun intended.