The Better Life [Deluxe Edition] [Limited] [Slipcase]

Performer: 3 Doors Down
Engineer: Paul Ebersold; Malcolm Harper; Assen Stoyanov; Matt Martone; Kirk Kelsey; Mike Butler; Assen Stoyanov; Malcolm Harper
Producer: Paul Ebersold; Paul Ebersold
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: 3 Doors Down: Brad Arnold (vocals, drums); Matt Roberts, Chris Henderson (guitar); Todd Harrell (bass). Additional personnel: Kevin Paige (keyboards). Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee. "Kryptonite" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. 3 Doors Down: Chris Henderson (gut-string guitar); Todd Harrell (bass guitar); Brad Arnold, Matt Roberts . Personnel: Brad Arnold (vocals, drums); Chris Henderson , Matt Roberts (guitar); Daniel Adair (drums). Additional personnel: Kevin Paige (keyboards). Audio Mixers: Ryan Williams; Toby Wright; No�l Lee. Liner Note Author: Martin Huxley. Recording information: Ardent Studios, Memphis, TN; Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Houston, TX. Photographer: Andrew MacNaughtan. The success story of 3 Doors Down starts typically enough. An aggressive and unrelenting phone campaign to radio stations for their breakaway single "Kryptonite" snowballed into a showcase at New York's legendary CBGB's and a deal with Universal Records. The Escatawpa, Missouri quartet offers a sound that is grounded in '90s alternative rock but doesn't ignore the contributions of hard-rock music's foundations from the '60s and '70s. "Loser" finds 3 Doors Down using Alice In Chains-influenced minor-key vocal harmonies and acoustic-then-electric dynamics. In "Duck and Run," vocalist/lyricist Brad Arnold urges fans to remain positive despite life's trials. The delicate balance of human relations is explored in "Not Enough." In "Be Like That," Arnold sings of a daydreamer's envy, sounding like a heavier Matchbox 20. Though the band began as a power trio, with Arnold on drums and vocals, 3 Doors Down added a second guitarist and a drummer to fatten its sound for THE BETTER LIFE. The Better Life, 3 Doors Down's debut album, positions them somewhere between radio-ready post-grunge and more aggressive alternative metal. The best songs are memorable exercises in that style, and even though the songwriting is uneven, that's often to be expected from a first record; there is at least an indication of potential here. [Universal issued a "Deluxe Edition" of the album in 2007 that added a bonus disc made up of a 13-track live set.] ~ Steve Huey

Entertainment Weekly (6/2/00, pp.78-9) - "...Shows the boys have assiduously studied the Metallica/Pearl Jam/Creed oeuvres. At its swaggering best, LIFE crackles with energy and crowd-pleasing choruses..." - Rating: B- Q (12/00, p.136) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A bolt-together Stone Temple Alice in Pearl Jam's Soundgarden hybrid....this is rock for people who wear woolen muscle vests and worry about hair products..."

With the assistance of its contemporaries Creed and Days Of The New, 3 Doors Down helped keep the grunge flag flying in the mid-1990s in the wake of the demise of genre founders like Nirvana and Soundgarden. Combining the mammoth, sludgy riffs of the aforementioned bands with a dose of pop melody and an eye on the top 40 charts, the band first gained public attention with its debut release THE BETTER LIFE.

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