Back in the first season of
ABC
's reality show
Making the Band
, before
MTV
and
Sean "Puffy" Combs
took over the reigns of the
pop
group audition show created by "boy band" impresario
Lou Pearlman
,
introduced an angel --
Ashley Angel
to be precise -- to the world. All blonde spiky hair and bright blue eyes, 19-year-old
Angel
had a sweet voice and an even sweeter smile. For two years
lived his saccharine dream as a boy band superstar of
O-Town
. Despite a minor hit with
"Liquid Dreams,"
the group quickly dropped from the public's consciousness, disbanding in 2001. Five years later,
Ashley Parker Angel
-- the
Parker
stands for older and wiser -- returned with another reality show,
's
There and Back
, chronicling his struggle to record his first solo debut album. Gone are the cheesy dance moves and shiny metallic shirts; in their place are a respectable mop of shaggy hair and, surprisingly, some great melodic
rock
. In fact, the aptly titled
Soundtrack to Your Life
, born out of a reality show that saw
toil with creative and financial woes as well as the birth of his son,
Lyric
, is a tart and heartfelt collection of '70s
singer/songwriter
power pop
. Put together, those influences end up falling somewhere between the earnest balladeering of
the Goo Goo Dolls
and the driving
of
the All-American Rejects
. If the album is a little front-loaded, at least it works to good effect; the middle half of the album meanders stylistically, including a few attempts at a semi-
electro
Depeche Mode
production style. These aren't bad songs, but they distract somewhat from the straight-ahead melodic
that is the album's signature sound. The front-loading seems even more perplexing as two incredibly moving and tuneful
ballads
, the
Todd Rundgren-esque
"Where Did You Go"
and the emotionally cinematic
"Apology,"
are buried near the end of the album. Of course, this is just nitpicking, and one is still left with the overall impression of sincerity and bright melodicism. In fact, these are all original songs by
, albeit co-written with a small group of collaborator/producers, but rather than ending up with a shallow and overly produced collection of canned tracks,
, much like his likably goofy persona on
, reveals himself as a nice guy with a knack for a catchy melody. ~ Matt Collar