Major label debut features up and coming singer/songwriter

Artist: Drake Bell
Album: It's Only Time
Label: Universal
Release Date: December 5, 2006
Rating: 5/7

Twenty-year-old Drake Bell has just released his first major label album on Universal Motown Records called It’s Only Time. There are bonus tracks available with a purchase on iTunes and Wal-Mart from his first album, Telegraph. The iTunes release includes the title song “Telegraph” and the Wal-Mart album includes “Somehow” and “Found A Way.” Bell has taken his music on the road to Albany, NY, Princeton, MA and he will be in San Francisco, CA near the end of March.

Before this album, Bell has been known from his role on “Drake & Josh” on Nickelodeon. He also starred in “Yours, Mine and Ours,” “Changing Destiny” and “The Jack Bull.” Bell discovered his guitar skills while getting lessons from The Who’s Roger Daltrey in the movie “Changing Destiny.” Bell has only gotten better in the time since then.

Bell survived a terrible car accident at the end of 2005 and feels lucky to be alive. He wanted this album to be fun and reflect his feelings of being lucky to be alive. Bell recovered from a broken jaw, fractured neck, dislodged teeth and a deep cut across his chin. The desire of Bell to make this album fun is achieved through upbeat music and lyrics. “Makes Me Happy” is one example. The lyrics of this song include “I’m humming along my head is ringing/And I just can’t stop singing now/Cause it makes me happy.”

The vocals on this CD are very clean—not necessarily in the choice of words, but more in the fact that you can understand all of the words that he is singing. The clean production and fluid vocals are aided by great harmonies on tracks like “Do What You Want” and the acoustic version of “Found A Way.”

The first track on the album is “Up Periscope.” To hear this song, you must picture yourself on a submarine with all the bubbles and sea life that surrounds you. Bell’s music includes heavy influences from The Beatles and Beach Boys. “Up Periscope” brings The Beatles influence front and center, as a sort of “Yellow Submarine” for a new generation.

There is no shortage of Hollywood references on Bell’s CD. This can be found in “End It Good” with references to Gracie and Burns, Howard Hughes and Cecil B. Demile. Buddy Holly and Norma Jean are also referenced.

Bell co-wrote many of the songs on this album, along with C.J. Abraham and Michael Corcoran. He wrote all the music for his Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh.” The lyrics on this album are lively and in some cases poetic. “Rusted Silhouette” is one example. “A rusted silhouette embracing your burning filament/a verbal avalanche is serving up your innocence.” These lyrics are also repeated in “Break Me Down,” which provide a nice sense of continuity between the last two tracks on the CD. The words in the song “Fool The World” seem to be in contrast to the bouncy background music—“A deeper contemplation is all I need to make believe everyone would love me if I could fool the world.”

Drake Bell’s major label debut shows he has plenty of potential to keep expanding and growing as a singer and songwriter. Tracks like “It’s Only Time” show Bell’s talent as both a guitarist and lyricist. Here’s to hoping that his sophomore effort on Universal is even better than It’s Only Time.

Rating: 5/7