PROS: fan-serving | full-band parts not overdone | heart-felt songs

CONS: not memorable as a whole

If you have heard the name Allison Weiss before, then you probably already know her story.  When she was fifteen, she began playing guitar to impress a boy in her creative writing class.  Several years, a profile on every social networking site you could imagine and eighty-some YouTube videos later, Allison Weiss continues to build an ever-increasing fanbase.  Unfortunately, any fan of hers can tell you that Allison Weiss is most certainly underappreciated.  There is no lack of dedication, talent or heart in the sounds Allison Weiss creates, and it seems as though she just needs a little something to push her over the top.  Her newest release, …Was Right All Along, is a step in the right direction.

Any Allison Weiss fan will have seen a number – if not all – of her solo acoustic YouTube videos, featuring originals and covers.  If you are hoping for a studio-quality album of these solo pieces, you will probably be disappointed.  Instead, we are treated to full band, fleshed out versions of some really great songs.  Whether this is what an Allison Weiss fan really wants or not, it is hard to complain about the quality of the individual tracks on …Was Right All Along.  To fund the album, Allison Weiss used the crowd-sourcing pledge site Kickstarter.com, raising nearly eight thousand dollars – almost 400% her original goal.  And you can hear every penny in the tracks.  With …Was Right All Along, Allison Weiss’ sound has changed from that of a hobbyist to that of a professional musician.

There are a few places on the album where one could nitpick (for example: the ebow on “Ghost Stories” just sounds off for some reason), but a number of the tracks reward the listener for each additional play.  “You + Me + Alcohol”, “Fingers Crossed” and “Let’s Leave” steal the show in this department.  “You + Me + Alcohol” may not be the most poetic of Allison Weiss’ large repertoire of songs, but it is just so damn fun to listen to and sing along.

The album features an extended band for most tracks, but it certainly does not entirely ignore the solo acoustic pieces that captivated most fans in the first place.  “I Was An Island” (a personal favorite of mine) eases the listener in by slowly building on Allison Weiss’ solo acoustic guitar.  It serves as a fitting transition, taking the listener from behind a webcam and into the studio.  The second track on the album, “Fingers Crossed”, shows exactly how far Allison Weiss’ sound has come, even in just the last few years.

Perhaps the most satisfying track on the album is “July 25, 2007”. It is Allison Weiss at her core.  A simple guitar, a catchy melody and chorus, and heartbreak – everything we have come to expect from this Athens, Georgia songwriter.  The only thing that could possibly improve the piece would be light harmonies, but the song is flawless as-is.

Though the individual tracks are often spot on, it seems for some reason that the entire album is lacking something.  It is certainly fan-serving and full of great songs, but the album as a whole is not as memorable as it could be.  Long-time fans will most definitely listen to this album on repeat (as I have several times in writing this review), but new listeners might want to skip around to the best bits first.  The album could probably do without “From You To Me”, “Try To Understand”, “Why Bother” and/or “Yer Going Down”.  They are, of course, good songs, but they just do not stick in your mind like many of the other tracks on the album.  It leaves me to believe that this album could have been better at EP length (as originally planned), or with a slightly different selection of tunes from Allison Weiss’ long line of webcam performances.

All-in-all, …Was Right All Along is a great album, but it certainly serves fans more than anything.  While not a bad thing, this might not be the release that rockets Allison Weiss into complete stardom, as her fans would love to see.  The full band parts are rewarding, rather than overdone as some artists are wont to do, and this album is definitely a step in the right direction for Allison Weiss.  It would be hard to imagine her next release being anything less than stellar after this entry into her discography.

…Was Right All Along is out now anywhere mp3s are sold (this girl is all over the net).  Years For Beards recommends visiting the official Allison Weiss shop to buy the physical CD or the mp3s (which come with an exclusive bonus track when purchased directly from the artist).

(4 out of 5 beards)

Track Listing:

01. I Was An Island
02. Fingers Crossed
03. From You To Me
04. July 25, 2007
05. You + Me + Alcohol
06. Try To Understand
07. Why Bother
08. Yer Going Down
09. Ghost Stories
10. Let’s Leave