Avril Lavigne - 'Let Go' (Arista, 2002)

Everyone seems to remember Avril Lavigne for 'Sk8er Boi' and the fact that she can't sing. That's what I've experienced, at least. It seems like everyone is against the poor girl - just because she was just eighteen and a a little bit of an in-your-face additude.

However, few of her so-called critics have ever heard Let Go. Not only is this great pop, it's also a gem of a record that seems to be little-known to people of 'alternative' stature.

While naive in some bits, and certainly overproduced, it makes a compelling picture of a new talent.

The record starts with 'Losing Grip', a song of loss and anger, and the guitars in the first chorus really kick the album off - sludgy and dense. Follow that off with the great 'Complicated' and you know you've got a good record in your hands. This song is catchy and plenty poppy, but seems fresh to my ears. A memorable verse makes this one stand out.

Following that is 'Sk8er Boi'. I recommend you skip this one always, or burn a copy without it - it's kinda superflous, and I think it interrupts the album's flow, not to mention that it's too sugary and cute - Avril's (or her managers') way of trying to break her into the rock circles. Unfortunately, it's not 'rocky' enough and backfired, IMO, and made a song that was plenty annoying.

And, after that, is the oasis of 'I'm With You'. Avril's vocals on this track are pretty damn good, and it's not a bad song either... good instrumentation.

After this are a couple of really good ones, and not singles, to boot - 'Mobile' and 'Unwanted'. The former is a bouncy song about instability (with a great chorus), the latter a slow, distorted rocker overflowing with feelings of isolation. Album tracks don't get much better than this.

By the time 'Unwanted' ends, the feeling it leaves is smarting... and that's when gentle 'Tommorow' comes in. Good planning there. Very much an acoustic number, with some good vocals (even though the backing vocals number high and get in the way a lot).

After this, sadly, the record goes downhill. 'Anything But Ordinary' sounds *too* individualistic, if you catch my drift, and sounds like a soda commerical in some parts. 'Things I'll Never Say' has some memorable parts, and a good verse arrangement, but isn't worth too much. Both 'My World' (entirely too poppy) and 'Nobody's Fool' (Avril rapping? Sorry, it's horrible) are almost entirely forgettable. The badness lightens up with 'Too Much to Ask', a dreamy piece that isn't too bad on the ears.

The last track begins perfectly - a creepy delayed guitar line, which reminds me of Radiohead's 'Lucky', actually - and continues to be a pleasing song. It's called 'Naked', and is a great album-closer.

As the song ends, with Avril stating that she feels optimistically real around her significant other, and the delayed guitar line from the beginning trailing off to end, I realize that this record might end up being one of those undiscovered classics, that everyone will be hyping in twenty years.

There's other qualms - the mixing, by Tom Lord-Alge, is too light and happy and glossy; I wonder what shapes it would take if someone more alternatively-minded took to the mixing board; and the whole argument of "Who really wrote this?", which might never get solved - that more often than not, don't get in the way of the album. One needs to forget a lot of that, sit back and enjoy it.