William Beckett- The Pioneer Sessions

Well, what a fitting first post! It's my pioneer post, and The Pioneer Sessions was the CD that came up!

Let's start this out with some basic info about the CD:

Release Date: Jan. 29, 2013

Genre: This is a bit tough to nail down. I'd call it either indie pop, acoustic, or singer-songwriter. 

Track Listing

1. Compromising Me
2. Girl, You Shoulda Been A Drummer
3. Oh, Love!
4. You Never Give Up
5. Great Night
6. Warriors
7. Scarlett (Tokyo)
8. Dig A Hole
9. Stuck In Love
10. Slip Away
11. Dear Life
12. Our Story's Already Been Told

About William Beckett: His first, and so far biggest, break into the music industry was with his band, The Academy Is..., for which he was the lead singer and a primary songwriter. They were an alternative/ pop punk band signed to Fueled By Ramen, and although they never experienced the widespread popularity of labelmates Panic! at The Disco and Fall Out Boy, they had a large following among pop punk fans. Their debut CD was released in early 2005, and they released 2 other CDs and an EP before disbanding in October of 2011. William set out on a solo project, releasing his first EP in April 2012, followed by two more in July and October. These EPs are much more pop driven than his music with The Academy Is... 

He has a very distinct, unique voice, and it would be nearly impossible to confuse a song by him with a song by anyone else. However, the quality to his voice that makes it so unique can sometimes be a turnoff to people because it's kinda an ugly-pretty type thing.

Then: 2006ish while in The Academy Is...

Now: 2012 as a solo artist

About the CD: The Pioneer Sessions is basically just the acoustic, raw versions of the 12 songs he released on EPs. It's very stripped down, but awesome at the same time, since it's just him and his guitar rather than an overly produced track.

IMHO: I really like the CD, and almost all of the tracks on it. I've loved his music for years, and was a huge fan of The Academy Is.. when they were together. The TAI breakup was probably the worst one I've ever had to cope with, because they're one of my all-time faves. Although I really like Bilvy's (a nickname of his that I've held onto since his days in TAI) solo music, it doesn't compare to his TAI music. But I do prefer these acoustic versions to the more pop-driven EP releases

Favorite songs: My top 2 songs would definitely have to be Compromising Me and Dear Life. I loved them when they were released, and continue really loving them. In fact, I kinda like the EP versions of both of them better than the acoustic ones!

Other gems: Girl, You Shoulda Been a Drummer, Oh, Love!, Great Night, Warriors, and Stuck In Love. These were already my favorites before this CD, but the acoustic versions just made me love them more. The only downside is that the EP version of Stuck In Love features Ryan Ross (formerly of Panic! at the Disco) and the acoustic version doesn't.

Video!

The music video for the EP version of Dear Life. I also love that this video features The Butcher (The nickname of the former drummer of The Academy Is..) as the main guy!

Dear Life, acoustic

Rating: 7.5/10. I enjoy this CD, but I know he can do better, because his previous band was better. There are some really great ones, and then just some that I didn't really like. Overall, not amazing, but pretty good.

Hope you liked my first "The CDs on my Shelf" post! What did you think? This one will probably be on the longer end of my posts, since it's an artist I like quite a bit, listen to regularly, and it's a CD that was released fairly recently. Want to know more information about the CD? Less? or just different info? Or is what I put good? What did you think of William Beckett? Let me know all of this in the comments! Thanks, y'all!