Being Baptized By Daughtry Is Sure To Leave You Cleansed

Chris Daughtry, American Idol alumnus, knows how to give his legions of fans what they want. His band's practically brand spanking new album "Baptized" is, in the true spirit of a holiday season gorge fest, stuffed with all the elements of performance that not only answer the question, "What was all the fuss about in the only recent way back when?" but prove Chris and his chums went to and excelled at graduating class in the art of dishing out exemplary pop/rock hooks. The first radio nugget, "Waiting For Superman" has this pinch the cheeks quality about it. Try to be Grinch like after zeroing in on the image of some love starved female pondering the notion that her dreamboat in the red cape with the "S" on his chest merely got hung up at the laundromat and will be along to whisk his ladylove away from her life of high dudgeon at any moment. Keyboardist Elvio Fernandes is to be commended for using his keys to pump up the dreaminess in this unwavering fantasy scenario. If adult contemporary sensibilities aren't the water fountain you scramble to for artistic nourishment you could always test out the title track. It employs the battering ram school of drumming through and through. So you see...Daughtry can be both a gentle and gritty band within the parameters of the same album. Robin Diaz hammers away like the "I've got something to prove tag" is still very much emblazoned in his DNA. Turning to Chris Daughtry's vocals. He knows when to let it all hang out. He's got a pulse pounding instrument that operates on both sides of the affairs of the heart fence. I give him credit for not allowing his audiences to get too comfortable with tunes threatening to cave under the weight of their own vulnerability. In fact "Traitor" has the potential to be downright nightmare inducing. What the heck happened to the gentle giant who admitted his failures without apology on "Broken Arrows". That so and so is ready to reholster his Cupid arrows and head off into the unfulfilled sunset. This hooligan wants to pin his betraying femme fatale up against the wall until she grows hoarse screaming for mercy, mercy that if you're tuned in to this song with any degree of concentrated attention span, you know he's not exactly chomping at the bit to give her. I find myself taken with "Traitor" for this reason and hope the experimentation gets your blood pumping too. "Long Live Rock & Roll" is quite simply a respectful tribute to the greats of the genre and the amount of time well spent debating, among other things, who's the bigger badass, Motley Crue or GNR. All that name dropping for people like me for whom music is as essential a part of daily life as food, water, air, and shelter is a wicked trip down memory lane. The drums electrify. Josh Steely, Brian Craddock, and Josh Paul, the trio comprising the meat of the guitar section, mine this time tested motif for all it's worth. Everyone's laughing, reflecting, possibly clinking cold ones. To add to that the Journey/"Don't Stop Believin" reference is a fun tip of the hat to one of the all time memorable arena rock standards. Ten feet tall coming right up, sir. If I had a personal favorite of the batch it would be "I'll Fight". The way the song zooms from chord set-up to chord set-up with lightning precision and not one false footstep excited me from the outset. If you want to get my adrenaline cranked to insane levels work some sorcery with those chords. The same ooh and aah you'd hear from a crowd of thousands watching fireworks go off on the Fourth of July you can get from a well plotted series of guitar chords. "18 Years" wraps up the set. Its focus is on youthful nostalgia and how the first 18 years zoom by in a blink. Not groundbreaking but cut Chris and friends a break. The 11 tracks that preceded it gave us all a stunning emotional workout. If they want to stamp their own imprint on the whole "Time is fleeting" theme, then give them their due. "Baptized" is salute worthy for assembling one crisp slab of smartly executed pop/rock after another. Even after you towel off, this is one baptism you won't soon forget.