When thinking of an extended metaphor for Red Wanting Blue’s new album “From the Vanishing Point,” many thoughts ran through my head, weddings, dinners with in-laws, first dates, and the “Saw” films and so on. However, I decided to keep it relatively clean with my following breakdown of the Ohio rocker’s 9th album.
“From the Vanishing Point” is like soft core porn. The first half tries to add some substance by creating some phony plotline that everybody knows is a ruse to trick unsuspecting channel surfers to keep watching. It’s deceivingly clean, prim and proper, easily digested by those with weak constitutions. The only real purpose of the beginning is to fill the requirements of a somewhat respectable mainstream motion picture, or in this case a typical, radio-ready, rock album. The band spends the first half of the album covering its bases, courting listeners with watered down, catchy, rock songs that are radio friendly. The album’s first single, “Audition,” is the Red Wanting Blue’s musical jabbing to the lime light of Hollywood. It’s part lamentation, part nostalgia. No matter how popular they get, the band is letting Ohio know that they won’t forget their roots. However “From the Vanishing Point” isn’t all safe, guitar-driven, rock ballads. As the album continues, things get sexier and more daring.
The second half is Red Wanting Blue naked and true, what everybody really wanted in the first place. “Walking Shoes,” the records seventh track, is a true vagabond’s anthem. Scott Terry’s baritone gruff is perfectly suited to the song’s galloping tempo. A love-fueled catharsis with “Running of the Bulls” seems appropriate for a band with an independent past, as Terry bellows, “We will not apologize for this, we are what we are.” However, the real gem of “From the Vanishing Point” is the album’s money shot, “My Name is Death,” an acoustic ballad from the point of view of “the repo man.” It’s a nearly perfect combination of acoustic simplicity and vocal density. Red Wanting Blue’s ode to death truly is the album’s high water mark. Do yourself a favor, pick up the album. “From the Vanishing Point” teases for the first several songs, but don’t worry it’ll be worth it.
