Where McLaughlin has strength is when he loosens up and gets into big, bright pop, the kind that ruled the airwaves in the mid-'80s, after new wave synthesized productions and before adult contemporary flattened them.

All this makes McLaughlin's taste for the mawkish — which surfaces not just on those ballads, but on his plea to featherweight freshmen to just hold on through the 'Four Years' of high school — a bit of a buzzkill, bringing the album down to earth when it should soar.

"[6] JesusFreakHideout's Logan Leasure claimed "Around the time of his first full-length studio album release last year, no one really knew who Jon McLaughlin was.

[8] A low tempo ballad, the song literally defines Jon's entire musical substance and his record label would be smart to release it at some point, as there is no doubt it would be a fan favorite.

The new combination of Jon McLaughlin's original folk/piano rock sound with a new more pop spin heard here comes off as a clear winner and will unquestionably captivate fans until the next time around.