Put Up Your Hands and Surrender to Him

I'm just going to say it, credibility be damned: It's so good to have Gavin DeGraw back. His Chariot is one of my favorite CDs of the past few years, and now his self-titled follow-up is out and it's mostly worth the wait. I downloaded the album on Saturday from Jonny Ali's Blog and have had it on almost constant rotation ever since. The first single and album opener "In Love with a Girl" is great, and I am really enjoying the pop-soul sound of "I Have You to Thank." I'm also a fan of tracks two and three, "Next to Me" and "Cheated on Me." Best of all, though, is the inclusion of "Cop Stop," a song Gavin's been playing live in concert for, oh, five years now that I've always enjoyed. Gavin DeGraw is not as good as Chariot — the first half is definitely better than the second, and it's almost amusing how you can make a one-to-one comparison between some songs on the two albums ("Medicate the Kids" is like Chariot's "Chemical Party," for example) — but the new CD is far from disappointing. I'm not sure why it took the guy five years to release a follow-up, but now that he has, it's good to have Gavin back with some new tunes. Hopefully the new CD will push him to some real success this summer.