• Band / Artist : Chance – mySpace
• Genre : Alternative / Rock
• Sample Track Download : Pause, But Don’t Stop
• Buy CD : Band Store – CD Baby
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 8.5 out of 10

There’s a few artists that truly get me excited, when I hint a whiff of a new release and Chance is one of them. I last reviewed an album from Chance in November last year. In actual fact I reviewed his first two CD’s releases virtually back to back, as this was the early days of Indie Launchpad and I had a stack of artists I wanted to get off my chest.

I call this an album release, but it’s more an extended EP. It is however two tracks longer than the previous two releases, having 9 tracks, rather than the usual 7. As with the previous two releases, this album consists of the previously 5 individually released singles. As well as those singles, there are some live tracks and an interesting song that was the result of a open poll, for the worst song possible for Chance to cover, which is the “Milkshake Song”, previously released by and a hit for Kelis.

The album opens with the track “Man on a Mission”, which for me is one of Chance’s weakest songs and unfortunately featured on this album as both a studio and live version. I hate being critical of music, but this track really rubs me up the wrong way. It has a very amateurish, song writing feel to it, which for Chance is a rarity. Of course I’m probably going to get flamed alive for this, but he it’s just my take.

The rest of the album is a delight. “Pause But, Don’t Stop” has all the classic Chance hallmarks, and made it easy to put the previous track behind me. “Independent” is a true classic and is also a track that featured pretty heavily on various popular podcasts, including our very own Indie Launchpad podcast. “Here” provides some light relief. I would have loved a more dramatic organ intro to this, which would have added some great atmosphere and would have been good to lead out with. I can hear it in my head as I type. I would love to hear what magic Sebastian Ciceri could craft with this track? “Push” is the last track formerly released as a single and is track fifteen of the Eleven to Fifteen, as referred to in the album title.

The remaining tracks include two live tracks, “Man on a Mission” and “Radio Free”, which even if you don’t like either of the tracks, as I mentioned previously with “Man on a Mission”, you can’t deny that Chance is an energetic and extremely talented live performer. “That Means Everyone” is a previously unreleased track and one that really strikes a chord with me and is probably my favorite track on the album. Finishing up with “The Milkshake Song (sever xtra thick)”, this had my 16 year old daughter rolling her eyes, which I take to mean she’d rather boil her head than listen to a variation of a formerly hated song. I must have missed out on the original release, but it looks like I didn’t miss much. Chance manages to put an interesting spin on it and certainly managed to make it his own… which I’m not sure if he wants or not. I must track down the original to see how different it is, as I find Chances version quite entertaining.

Conclusion : As we’ve come to expect from Chance, a great release, with some nice twists. Certainly one of the most exciting and interesting indie artists around.