Vertical Horizon began as an acoustic duo of Matt Scannell and Keith Kane back when the two were students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1991.
After graduation, Scannell and Kane lived on Cape Cod for the summer of 1992, working at a golf course and playing in bars and clubs whenever they could. At the end of the summer, they took what money they'd saved and recorded There and Back Again in Deerfield, Massachussetts, at Scannell's old high school.
Returning to D.C., they met up with Jack O'Neill and Cary Pierce of Jackopierce, with whom they toured for a time, making contacts and building a following.
In 1994, Vertical Horizon released Running on Ice, which maintained the lyrical feel of There and Back Again, but added drums, bass, and keyboards to some tracks.
Live Stages, released in 1996, comprised songs from the first two albums, live and with an electric as opposed to acoustic sound.
Picking up drummer Ed Toth and bassist Sean Hurley, the band changed tack entirely in their 1998 major-label debut release Everything You Want for RCA. Entirely electric, the album featured twelve tracks written by Scannell and only one by Kane, whereas the previous albums had split the writing credits evenly, alternating one song by each. Also, Scannell does virtually all of the lead vocals on Everything You Want, which unfortunately features almost nothing from Kane's exceptional tenor.
The 2003 Go (also with RCA) is in the same vein, and is very forgettable top-40 rotation type stuff.
Their most recent two albums blend pretty seamlessly into the woodwork of forgettable electric alternative; their first three albums, especially There and Back Again, are acoustic folk 180 degrees away from what you hear of theirs on the radio, and are well worth a listen even if you hate "Everything You Want" and "Go".
Discography
There and Back Again
- Trying To Find Purpose
- Children's Lullaby
- Footprints In The Snow
- Love's Light
- The Mountain Song
- Prayer For An Innocent Man
- Lines Upon Your Face
- Willingly
- On The Sea
- Liberty
Running on Ice
- Heart In Hand
- Wash Away
- Fragments
- Famous
- Man Who Would Be Santa
- Angel Without Wings
- Answer Me
- Life In The City
- Japan
- Call It Even
- Sunrays and Saturdays
- Candyman
- Falling Down
- Goodnight My Friend
Live Stages
- The Man Who Would Be Santa
- The Ride
- Falling Down
- On The Sea
- Japan
- It's Only Me
- Candyman
- Fragments
- The Unchosen One
- Heart In Hand
- Wash Away
- Great Divide
Everything You Want
- We Are
- You're A God
- Everything You Want
- Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)
- You Say
- Finding Me
- Miracle
- Send It Up
- Give You Back
- All Of You
- Shackled
Go
- When You Cry
- I'm Still Here
- Forever
- Sunshine
- Goodbye Again
- Echo
- It's Over
- One of You
- Won't Go Away
- Inside
- Underwater