Office: A Night At The Ritz

If you like smart lyrics and happen to have enthusiasm for life, then you will probably enjoy the Chicago pop rock band Office and their 2007 release, A Night at the Ritz. The first track, “Oh My,” is fantastic and really shows what this band is capable of producing. The lyrics are impressive, the lead vocals are sexy and the rest of the band is simple enough to showcase the former. By the end of the song, you might find yourself singing along. The other tracks on the album were good, but not amazing. I happen to be a firm believer in the “X factor,” which I define as that which separates brilliance from mediocrity. I think the first track promises the X factor, but the rest of the songs lead up to verbal overkill. The lyrics are packed full of meaning if you were to sit down and read them, but who wants to do that? We expect emotion to flow through the speakers effortlessly.

In the other tracks, the “poetry” comes across as cheesy simply because each song’s structure is basically the same. Take a verse - chorus - verse, throw in some manufactured harmonies, add a dash of unchanging rhythm guitar, and Voila! you have a cookie-cutter pop band that is skilled enough to do much better. Office needs to work on varying up their sound in order to catch on with this genre’s listeners. I do look forward to hearing their next album, “The Silent Parade”, coming out in July, because even if they were to remain exactly the same, Office is a fun light-hearted listen for those times when you simply must pretend you’re a Sex and the City character (dare I say it?) spending a night at the Ritz.

Office - Oh My

Buy A Night At The Ritz Here