The Fray – How To Save A Life

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We all know the song by heart by now. “Step one, you say we need to talk / He walks, you say, ‘Sit down, it’s just a talk’ / He smiles politely back at you / You stare politely right on through,” are the lyrics fully ingrained in my head from the debut studio album from The Fray and their break-though single of the same name. How To Save A Life got a bit of an unfair shakedown from critics upon its release nearly 20 years ago today. Some critics went as far as saying the band “lacked originality”, but you have to remember what was going on in the Alt Rock scene at that time. Coldplay had already solidified themselves as major players with their first two records, Radiohead were releasing game-changing records left and right, and The Fray were coming onto the “soft rock” scene budding with promise and starry-eyed vision for their piano-laced music. How To Save A Life has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA, and it also became one of the all-time best-selling digital albums of that decade.

”She Is” opens on a raucous combination of heavy piano chords, guitar and bass, while lead vocalist Isaac Slade captivates in his overall vocal performance early on. It’s easy to see why The Fray caught lightning in a bottle early on in the career, as they had a knack for big pop hooks that was heavily placed on adult rock radio. “Over My Head (Cable Car)” follows in the sequencing with the other major single from the set, and some people forget just how great so many of these songs are on the band’s debut LP. The song has everything you’d want in a pop smash: a gradual build up to a massive chorus, a memorable hook, and a slowed-down chorus that acts as the bridge to bring the message home.

”All At Once” features some crunchy guitar chords from Dave Welsh and Joe King, while they both add in some fuzz pedals over the instruments to prevent sounding too clean-cut. “Fall Away” is a soft ballad that leans more heavily into the atmospheric elements of The Fray’s sound that they would explore even deeper on subsequent releases, while “Heaven Forbid” never really takes off the way it should have in the chorus. The song structure lends itself to a massive chorus that never arrives, and it’s a shame that it never really reaches its full potential.

Late tracks like “Look After You” drift along with veteran pop ease due to the soft croon of vocalist Isaac Slade, and “Hundred” features an almost jazz piano bar feel to it as the song starts to get going. The main flaw of the record is that outside of the two big hits found on the LP, a lot of the other songs are hard to distinguish between themselves. “Vienna” walks the listener through some great piano playing from Slade as he swoons all over the instrument on a song about losing yourself. Slade sings, “There’s really no way to reach me / ‘Cause I’m already gone,” and it’s hard to not feel his pain behind the lyrics.

”Dead Wrong” eventually brings the tempo back up to a more comfortable pacing that was found on the early onset of the record and showcases the strengths of The Fray when they’re playing off of each other’s style to enhance their band chemistry. “Little House” makes a departure back to the soft piano rock in the early stages of the song, that muddled up the middle section of the record, but luckily producer Aaron Johnson makes a point to add in some heavier guitar elements in the chorus and instrumental breakdowns to clear up some on the monotony. “Trust Me” leaves the listener with the closing thought/lyric of “When you’re older, you will understand / And then again, maybe you don’t,” that comes across as a gateway to where The Fray would go on their self-titled effort nearly four years later after extensive touring in support of their debut.

Yes, the record isn’t perfect, but it’s one that I still look fondly back upon whenever I have a chance to spend some time with it. How To Save A Life will likely make you feel one way or another when you revisit it for its 20th anniversary, and maybe that’s the whole point. Music should be a gateway to unlocking the core memories we all experience at one point in time in our lives, and helps us with remembering all the emotions that come flooding back into our headspace when we wrap our ears around a familiar record.

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