CD Reviews

Carolina Liar

Coming to Terms | Atlantic

By MIKAEL WOOD | May 20, 2008

2.5 Stars

Great story here: no-name songwriter from South Carolina moves to LA to make it big and somehow scores an internship with pro schlockmeister Diane Warren, who tells him his stuff would fare better in Europe; dude decamps to Sweden and ends up housesitting for a friend of tween-rock maestro Max Martin, who eventually co-writes and produces much of Coming to Terms, Chad Wolf’s debut as Carolina Liar. Opener “I’m Not Over” you’ve heard on The Hills — it’s the best boy version yet of “Since U Been Gone” (arguably Martin’s great accomplishment). The rest of Coming to Terms doesn’t quite live up to the promise Wolf displays in the single; if something else were as good (or better), they’d have put it first, right? That said, there are highlights for sure, among them the ace Killers impression “Last Night” (in which Wolf asks some chick at the bar, “Did you come up to me so your night would be cheaper?”) and “Something To Die For,” a goth-grunge goodie Wolf wrote with Peter Svensson of the Cardigans. Highly recommended to those unafraid of late-period Bon Jovi.

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Topics: CD Reviews , Max Martin , Carolina Liar , Bon Jovi , More

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