Semi-Charming Album

Blue by Third Eye Blind

Hello, my name is Third Eye Blind and I'm a talented band capable of switching between hook-laden pop and bitter punk with the click of a track. I'll throw a falsetto backing vocal track against a Rick Derringer guitar hook and you'll listen because I'll explore another direction before the song is over. I'll spit out venom that Gen Y moshers demand from their heroes and do it all around a melange of sounds that make you wonder how many producers got their hands on the track.

What captivated me about 3EB's first album was the ease with which they moved from style to style. That album had enough hits to fill a wall with platinum, and the band served notice to the musical community that it would not be a one-hit wonder by alternating between 90s-style ska and grunge. Front man Stephan Jenkins showed off wonderful phrasing on vocals and one of the most deft uses of studio tricks in a long time.

The band's second album, Blue, serves up more of the same, but doesn't quite approach the first in terms of originality. That makes sense since they're building on what they've done before, but I'm a disappointed because there's nothing earth-shakingly new here. Semi Charmed Life was a glorious cacaphony of sound and influence. Several cuts on Blue approach this level, but the key difference here is that this album is much stronger overall than the first.

Huh?

Listen to the album through several times. Then go back and listen to the first album. What you'll hear is magic on three or four of the first album's cuts. Then you'll hear what we'll politely call album cuts because the group deserves better than to have them called filler. But when you listen to Blue, virtually every cut is strong and very listenable, even if the style may not be one you care for.

A couple of ideas about the album and the band:

1) Stephan Jenkins may be the best songwriter emerging from the late 90s. You need to have this album because six albums from now, we'll be writing about his early works showing "raw power" or some other cliche.

2) The album itself was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge and sounds wonderful. Who's he? A quick list of the artists he has mixed for: Barenaked Ladies, Billy Joel, Earth Wind & Fire, Dave Matthews, Blink 182, Live, Hanson, Steve Winwood, a bazillion soundtracks and tons more. He is quite simply one of the best artists ever involved in album production. And yes, they're artists too.

3) Never Let You Go was a great single. Farther will be a better one. You'll spend the rest of the year listening to this song on the radio. My prediction anyway.

4) My personal favorite cuts are Slow Motion and Darwin. Neither will be a hit, but I like 'em.

5) The band has learned to merchandise. They've sold an ECD, are hawking stickers and web sites in a special CD insert, all sorts of heavy-duty marketing stuff. Who knows, if Napster wins its legal battles, maybe this is how artists will make their money.

6) This band's third album is going to be absolutely breakthrough. One day they are going to create an album on the level of Rubber Soul or Purple Rain. You'll feel much better when you say to friends then, "Oh, I've been listening to them for years."

If you haven't heard them yet, listen to this as the first album you buy, but if you only buy one, then buy their first album from 1997.