Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music on Amazon!

JFH Music Review




Hawk Nelson
Letters To The President: Deluxe Edition



Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 20 tracks: 54 minutes, 33 seconds
Street Date: October 4, 2005


The extended edition fad strikes again! Fans eager for new material from their favorite artists are once again expected to shell out their treasured allowance for the same record again with just a few extra bonus materials. The latest project to be given this treatment is pop/punk band Hawk Nelson's standout debut Letters To The President. (Note: This review will cover the Deluxe Edition as a whole, focusing on its features. For our review of the original 14-track release and those songs, click here)

Letters To The President: Deluxe Edition, as with most extended rereleases, is essentially the must-have version of this album if you stack the original release up against the Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe Edition adds six new tracks and three videos that are accessible on your computer. The six new tracks are somewhat of grab bag of bonus materials. Following the original album's closer "Long and Lonely Road," vocalist Jason Dunn introduces the band's Fall 2004 appearance on TV show American Dreams, preceding their rough and raw version of The Who's "My Generation" from the episode. It's the first time this song has been made available to fans on a Hawk project and it's a nice bonus. The other three songs are stripped-down acoustic versions of tracks that appear earlier on in the record. "Take Me" and "Every Little Thing" are transformed into great acoustic-driven ballads while the pop/punk anthem "Letters To The President" is completely reworked into a beautiful piano ballad. Finally, a less then thirty second spoken word track entitled "Jason's Thoughts In French" is merely Jason speaking something entirely in French. Unless you passed Intro To French in middle school with flying colors, you aren't likely going to understand a lick of it. Last, but not least, the bonus videos are interesting enough. The "live" version (as it says on the cover) of "Letters To The President" is merely the studio music from the CD set to random footage of the band on tour and, disappointingly, isn't live music at all. "Hawk Vs. The Roller Coaster" is a silly video that shows Jason's view of riding a rollercoaster and some overly excited teens sitting behind him. The best video of the three, however, is "Jason Vs. The Chairs" which shows a stack of folding chairs set up at one of the locations on this Spring's "The Diverse City Worldwide Tour" with Jason taking a running leap into them. And the remainder of the new stuff, the album's art, is slightly redone, adding a few tour photos from the past year in the middle of the booklet and a sleeve for the CD with a new cover.

Letters To The President: Deluxe Edition is a fun treat for fans waiting for the band's sophomore record to release next year, but it's also rather unfair for labels to keep expecting them to re-buy records they already own. I still would have rather seen an EP released (much like the new Relient K Apathetic EP which appears to have similar content like acoustic mixes), with an extra song or two than another release of the same album. But alas, what we have instead is Letters To The President: Deluxe Edition and it's a great collection in its own right, even if it isn't especially necessary.

- Review date: 10/3/05, written by John DiBiase



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Listen to the debut EP from the band Hopeful.!

 

Wow CD

Buy This CD Online


. Artist Info: Discography
. Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
. Album length: 20 tracks, 54 minutes and 33 seconds
. Street Date: October 4, 2005
. Buy It: Amazon.com

  1. California (2:52)
  2. Things We Go Through (2:31)
  3. Every Little Thing (3:07)
  4. From Underneath (2:45)
  5. Letters To The President (3:13)
  6. Right Here (3:11)
  7. Recess (0:50)
  8. Take Me (3:30)
  9. Someone Else Before (3:17)
  10. First Time (2:37)
  11. Like A Race Car (2:48)
  12. Late Show (1:53)
  13. 36 Days (3:42)
  14. Long And Lonely Road (3:09)
  15. American Dreams: The Story
  16. My Generation
  17. Every Little Thing (Acoustic)
  18. Take Me (Acoustic)
  19. Jason's Thoughts In French
  20. Letters To The President (Acoustic)
spacer Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics
Click For Audio Sample   Click For Song Lyrics

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 


(JFH Sponsor Spot)

 

 

                 
Listen to the debut EP from the band Hopeful.!

Search JFH




This Tuesday, March 26, 2024
ALBUMS
Brandon Lake Apple Music Nashville Sessions - EP [Provident]

This Thursday, March 28, 2024
ALBUMS
David And Nicole Binion The Revelation Of Jesus - EP [Integrity]
The Rocky Valentines Erase [Velvet Blue/Tooth & Nail]

This Friday, March 29, 2024
ALBUMS
Grungepunks The Fall Blues EP [Charon Collective]
Meadows Familiar with Pain [Facedown]

SINGLES
Joe L. Barnes Altar - Single [RCAI]
iNTELLECT It Ain’t My Fault - Single [Polished Arrow]
Spoken Worth Holy Week - Double Single (independent)
Gileah Taylor Summer Jubilee - Single [Velvet Blue]

VINYL
Battlecross Pursuit of Honor (Blood Moon Vinyl) [Back Breaker]
Battlecross Rise To Power (Silver Bullet Power Vinyl) [Back Breaker]
Battlecross War of Will (Amber Wave Vinyl) [Back Breaker]

Next Friday, April 5, 2024
ALBUMS
EmanuelDaProphet Fab5 [Capitol CMG]
Me'Kayla Prelude - EP [Motown Gospel/Capitol CMG]
We Are Messengers Where the Joy is [Curb]


For all release dates, click here!
 



Listen to the new album from Hope Beyond Suffering!




Listen to the new Album From Tim Juillet!

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images