Saving Abel - 'Miss America' Review

Saving Abel haven’t changed up their strategy too much on their second album, Miss America – unfortunately. Fans of the Mississippi quintet will be thrilled that the band have followed the formula of their self-titled 2008 debut, bouncing between crunchy post-grunge hard rock and soulful, Southern-fried ballads, but Saving Abel’s somewhat generic sound doesn’t yield enough surprises. As a result, this is music that plays to the masses in an anonymous, unexciting way.

Boosted by the success of the bad-sex paean “Addicted,” Saving Abel managed to go gold, yielding two other hit ballads in the process, “18 Days” and “Drowning (Face Down).” Though unquestionably melodic, these songs wore their influences on their sleeve, emulating the earnest tunefulness of other rock-radio staples like 3 Doors Down. Miss America demonstrates that frontman Jared Weeks and his bandmates still have a knack for grungy, vaguely scruffy rock ‘n’ roll, but Saving Abel still don’t possess much of a personality, which would help elevate their competent hooks.

To be fair, Saving Abel do attempt new musical approaches on Miss America, like on the swampy acoustic-guitar ditty “The Sex Is Good,” but the song is nothing more than a boring look at a messed-up sexual relationship that evokes a similar scenario from “Addicted.” And the band do try to dress up the lumbering “Bloody Sunday” with some faint guitar trickery and the sincere, syrupy power ballad “I’m Still Alive” with an orchestral opening, but these flourishes don’t add much to what is basically straightforward mainstream rock. In the buildup to the release of Miss America, Saving Abel said that the album would showcase a more mature band, but while there is a more layered, stylish sound (helped by co-producer Marti Frederiksen), the record’s essence feels simplistic and unsophisticated.

It’s never a good sign when even an album’s stronger moments are undercut by limitations, and that’s definitely a problem on Saving Abel’s sophomore effort. The pretty love song “Angel Without Wings” is a pleasant-enough listen, as long as you don’t focus on the lyrics, where Weeks pulls out that hoariest of romantic clichés, comparing his true love to an angel. Miss America’s title track has its heart in the right place, telling the story of a soldier writing to his mother from the battlefield, but good intentions pale in comparison to a song that’s neither musically nor lyrically very interesting. Even the clever twist of the title’s meaning – the narrator is tired of war and misses America – is undone when you consider that the album cover presents a dully gorgeous “Miss America” pinup, which downplays the title track’s true thematic purpose and instead plays into base male fantasies.

Miss America does have memorable tracks that seem almost guaranteed to be radio hits. The first single, “Stupid Girl (Only in Hollywood),” is a reliably melodic mid-tempo song buttressed by predictably slick guitars. And “I Need You” has the driving urgency of a good love song, complete with a Nickelback-style surging chorus. But the prevailing sentiment while listening to Miss America is disappointment. Saving Abel may not have been breathtakingly original, but it suggested that these guys were hungry young musicians with something to prove. On Miss America, they seem a little too comfortable playing the role of forgettable pros.

'Miss America' – Best Tracks:

“I Need You” (Purchase/Download)
“Stupid Girl (Only in Hollywood)” (Purchase/Download)
“Contagious” (Purchase/Download)
“Hell of a Ride” (Purchase/Download)
“Angel Without Wings” (Purchase/Download)

Release date – June 8, 2010
Virgin Records

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publicist. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.