A Little too Not November 11th yet

With the album fast approaching, 3 weeks today, the anticipation is rising and rising fast. Jive has been fantastic with a slow and steady drip feed of information, pictures and song clips over the past few weeks ensuring the buzz is maintained around boy wonders first ever studio album. All in all, negatives aside (and there are some) I am thrilled with everything I have heard, read and seen. The album is really shaping up. iluvlife from the IDF forums managed to get hold of the 12 confirmed songs for David's album plus 1 bonus song exclusive to Wal-Mart customers. Here is the list.

1 Crush
2 My Hands
3 Touch My Hand
4 Barriers - (No Doubt meets Bob Marley)
5 A Little Too Not Over You
6 Your Eyes Don't Lie - not sure how to describe (Bonnie Raitt meets country/folk)
7 You Can = Ballad (acoustic guitar) very beautiful melody and lyric, very "david"
8 Running - Midi Mafia - R&B/Pop/Kinda jazzy, Very Cool!!
9 Don't Let Go - U2 meets the Fray style - pop/alternative (David co-wrote with JC from NSync)
10 Desperate - Big mature sounding power ballad - Desmond Child (Bon Jovi hit songwriter)
11 To Be With You - Ballad #2 (piano) Pretty love ballad
12 Angels - new version - Ballad #3 (David on piano)

13 Works for Me - Bonus Track (Walmart only) - organic bluesy pop - David co-write with Daniel Bedingfield

There is so much 'YES YES AND YES' in that list, its untrue. Ill start with the tracks we have heard clips of. My Hands is a lovely little melodic pop song with a cool rhythm, even if I am not a fan of synthesised drum beats (which is my critcism of ALTNOY too), that is equally as good if not better than Crush. Wacky lyrics combined with playful vocal lines make this song a haven of charm and fun. Touch My Hands has a very cool Coldplay/U2 vibe and melodic pattern with a unique fusion of styles which results in something quite cool and unique. Although I do not find this one quite as appealing as My Hands or A Little to Not Over You, I still think it is a fantastic and unique concept. I really think this song could actually be alot better than it is in its current state but I guess I cant pass true judgement until ive heard the full song with a proper mix. A Little to Not Over You is the first element of Composition we have heard from David, as a co-writer of this song, and I love it. In fact, its my favourite of all the clips and by a little distance too. The Waltz rhythm combined with the open vocal melody and then finally a tour de force of vocal prowess, especially in the Bridge, make this a pop song that I really find myself drawing too. I think it is no coincidence this song has the strongest melody of all the clips we have heard. My main concern however is the overuse of synth drumbeats. They seem to be everywhere. What is wrong with an organic drum beat? I think it could end up ruining some of the songs for me.

And then onto the songwriters and collaborators. The first one that jumps out of my screen at me is Desmond Child. Mr Child is one of the most prolific song writers in history. He has written more chart hits and great songs that alot of people combined ranging from Rickey Martin to Bon Jovi. He is a truly amazing songwriter and the song he has written - Desperate, is a really terrific song (check out Stanfour's version of it here). This is an interesting choice for David. Its quite emo and sad but I can imagine David packing a great deal of emotional punch in this song. Think Apologize kind of emotion. Not only is a great melody and memorable hook, I think its a fantastic diversion from 'Crush' and a song that proves his versatility as an artist. Its almost crossing over into Cook territory. Im expecting David's version to be a bit more Pop but to carry an emotional weight far greater than Stanfour's version. I really believe this could be David at his emotional best. This is the most exciting track on the album for me.

Other songwriters confirmed for the above listed songs are Kara DioGuardi, JC Chasez, The Midi Mafia and Daniel Bedingfield. What a fantastic A list of songwriters. Another track I'm dead excited about is the Daniel Bedingfield song. I've always been more of a fan of Daniel over his sister, Natasha. He's a very intelligent and witty songwriter and has produced arguably the best ballad of the 21st century with If Your Not the One. I think he is the perfect collaborator and I am stoked to hear what that track sounds like, even if it is only a Bonus track. JC Chasez's track will be very hip and very contemporary and Kara's will be melodic and charming, but of course these are based on assumptions. And finally, we will have a new version of Angels to finally break into the mainstream US market. David takes this song to a whole new level. As a huge fan of Robbie Williams original (ive performed it myself a fair few times) I never expected to like a cover version more, but guess what, Davids version blows it out of the water.

A very cool and refreshing combination of styles combined with an A list of songwriting talent and then to top it all off, sung by Wonderboy himself, I'm more excited about this album than I actually thought I would be. Im keeping my expectations low as hes still only 17 and has not had a particularly great deal of time to construct this album so it wont be matching his potential but im still expecting it to be a pleasure to listen to. Its great to see we also have some glimpses of Davids songwriting talent on there. I know Jeff and David would have liked some more David tracks to make it but I guess we will have to wait till the second album for that. Record labels have the final say and David has to deal with that as that is the nature of a very warped and timid music industry. Artistic freedom is a rare thing these days, I hope David is able to secure more in the future. Having said that, the song writing talent present here is superb

Roll on November 11th!