Goodbye Lullaby

By 

Lance G. Augustine (The Midwest, USA) - 

This review is from: Goodbye Lullaby (Audio CD)

For an older guy like me, Avril Lavigne's first two albums were the ultimate guilty pleasure; I couldn't resist her infectious brand of rock despite her youth and the average age of her fans.

While I didn't much care for the direction of 2007's The Best Damn Thing, I still recognized her undeniable talent and remained hopeful her music would mature as she grew older.

Goodbye Lullaby is quite different from her previous releases, mainly from the standpoint that most of the musical rock edginess and looseness is no longer present. This is a collection of simple & repetitive, mid tempo, light pop songs. You'll hear a lot of strings and electronic percussion, familiar pop rock chord progressions and melodies, and thankfully a minimum amount of crazy special effects. If you were hoping for more upbeat, catchy pop hits like "What The Hell", you're basically out of luck. Don't get me wrong, there are hooks all over this album. But the songs seem to lack power, and it certainly doesn't help that there are no distorted guitars to be heard.

While the majority of tracks are very similar, a few do stand out. It's hard to not get excited listening to "Push", a song that really pushes Avril's vocal range, and good luck getting the chorus of "Wish You Were Here" out of your head after you've heard it a couple of times. Its triple-trifecta of hook phrases ("Damn, damn, damn", "here, here, here" and "near, near, near") is the finest example of crafty pop songwriting on the album. "Not Enough" includes real drums, good dynamics and edge, easily making it my personal favorite. "Remember When" and "Goodbye" are respectable ballads, containing perhaps the two finest vocal performances from Avril on the record. "Remember When" builds in intensity and is wonderfully melodic, and the excellent falsetto on "Goodbye" is something I haven't heard from her before.

A different approach to production would have helped this record, and Avril Lavigne is capable of much better. But overall, this is still an album I believe most fans will enjoy.