Granted, I have a very large soft spot in my heart for Third Eye
Blind. I fell in love with their self-titled album when I was in grade
school, and I've followed them album after album ever since. I've never
given them undue credit though. When they suck, I frown, and hope for
better offerings.
When I saw the new album on Amazon Prime my heart DID skip a beat. "Oh could it be? Is this the one? The comeback? The return to lyrical form? The one that's gonna crush me and reveal new and interesting insights into what it means to be human?" Short answer: no.
I brewed up some coffee, put on my ATM's, and wrote as I heard it, during my first listen. Here's my first listen review of "Dopamine":
Track one, "Everything is Easy". A vaguely Cure-esq ditty with a moment or two of lyrical truth, but ultimately feeling like they had nothing to say. In fact, I can't actually remember any of the lyrics save for the chorus.
Track two, "Shipboard Cook". What the fuck is this even about? Why are you relying on this piano melody line to make something out of nothing? You're really out of things to say by track two? Just the end bit with Stephan Jenkins and a shitty guitar is better than the rest of the track.
Track three, "All The Souls". Finally something that sounds like Third Eye Blind moving forward. Is it just me, or do all the best songs wind up as track three's? Peppy, and at the same time dark. The lyrics are slightly more coherent. The strain of that falsetto is completely un-doable live. It's so fun to hear though that I'm not above putting that aside. It's really quite lovely. The song is repetitive in that way that pop songs are now. Musically super diverse though. I wonder if this was meant to be the single that was gonna sell this album.
Track four. "Dopamine": Uh...A little too on the nose. I guess being subtle isn't really what pop-and-roll is about. It does say something substantive though about the nature of love and what it feels like to be in a relationship where one or both parties is feeling detached.
Track five: "Rites of Passages." Feels meditative. Lyrically it's kind of like an inward look at a career I can't even imagine. Living in this kind of eternal summer because they got famous just as the temperature hit the 90's. Probably should've left the Bowie line out. The lyrics are talking to someone going through...fucking cha-cha-cha-changes. Emoji's can't fully express my disappointment.
Track six. "Back to Zero." Not a single meaningful thing.
Track seven. "Something in You." So close to saying...something. Note to self, don't use "something" as a lyric, it's devoid of descriptive power. "His hat looked like...something." "Her dress was pretty like...something". Lazy. Very lazy.
Track eight. "Get me out of here." FINALLY, something coherent. Something truthful. Something fucking fantastic. Seriously. I had to wait five more tracks from All the Souls to get to something this good. Fine, I'll wait for it. That's why I'm here. I WANT you to be this good. I WANT you to be this heavy, lyrically, emotionally. Giving a fuck! So goddamn important. Didn't need all that fucking production hype-tastic bullshit you've been trying to wear this whole time huh?? Could've just stripped it back to guitar and drums and vocals and made something fucking incredible. Did you learn your lesson??
And then, track nine, where they didn't learn a goddamn thing. "Blade". Not as good as Get me out of here. Pretty good though. Builds the tension nicely. Pretty good guitar playing. No real payoff to all that tension building.
Track ten. "All These Things." I don't know. Kinda fucking...uh...like Third Eye Blind aping The Decemberists, The Lumineers...Poorly.
The remaining two tracks are so forgettable I didn't even bother scratching out thoughts on them.
In sum? Don't buy this album. Pirate this album's two best tracks "All the Souls" and "Get me Out of Here", and disregard everything Third Eye Blind does until Stephan Jenkins really has something to say again...whenever that may be.
Final Score: 2 out of 5
When I saw the new album on Amazon Prime my heart DID skip a beat. "Oh could it be? Is this the one? The comeback? The return to lyrical form? The one that's gonna crush me and reveal new and interesting insights into what it means to be human?" Short answer: no.
I brewed up some coffee, put on my ATM's, and wrote as I heard it, during my first listen. Here's my first listen review of "Dopamine":
Track one, "Everything is Easy". A vaguely Cure-esq ditty with a moment or two of lyrical truth, but ultimately feeling like they had nothing to say. In fact, I can't actually remember any of the lyrics save for the chorus.
Track two, "Shipboard Cook". What the fuck is this even about? Why are you relying on this piano melody line to make something out of nothing? You're really out of things to say by track two? Just the end bit with Stephan Jenkins and a shitty guitar is better than the rest of the track.
Track three, "All The Souls". Finally something that sounds like Third Eye Blind moving forward. Is it just me, or do all the best songs wind up as track three's? Peppy, and at the same time dark. The lyrics are slightly more coherent. The strain of that falsetto is completely un-doable live. It's so fun to hear though that I'm not above putting that aside. It's really quite lovely. The song is repetitive in that way that pop songs are now. Musically super diverse though. I wonder if this was meant to be the single that was gonna sell this album.
Track four. "Dopamine": Uh...A little too on the nose. I guess being subtle isn't really what pop-and-roll is about. It does say something substantive though about the nature of love and what it feels like to be in a relationship where one or both parties is feeling detached.
Track five: "Rites of Passages." Feels meditative. Lyrically it's kind of like an inward look at a career I can't even imagine. Living in this kind of eternal summer because they got famous just as the temperature hit the 90's. Probably should've left the Bowie line out. The lyrics are talking to someone going through...fucking cha-cha-cha-changes. Emoji's can't fully express my disappointment.
Track six. "Back to Zero." Not a single meaningful thing.
Track seven. "Something in You." So close to saying...something. Note to self, don't use "something" as a lyric, it's devoid of descriptive power. "His hat looked like...something." "Her dress was pretty like...something". Lazy. Very lazy.
Track eight. "Get me out of here." FINALLY, something coherent. Something truthful. Something fucking fantastic. Seriously. I had to wait five more tracks from All the Souls to get to something this good. Fine, I'll wait for it. That's why I'm here. I WANT you to be this good. I WANT you to be this heavy, lyrically, emotionally. Giving a fuck! So goddamn important. Didn't need all that fucking production hype-tastic bullshit you've been trying to wear this whole time huh?? Could've just stripped it back to guitar and drums and vocals and made something fucking incredible. Did you learn your lesson??
And then, track nine, where they didn't learn a goddamn thing. "Blade". Not as good as Get me out of here. Pretty good though. Builds the tension nicely. Pretty good guitar playing. No real payoff to all that tension building.
Track ten. "All These Things." I don't know. Kinda fucking...uh...like Third Eye Blind aping The Decemberists, The Lumineers...Poorly.
The remaining two tracks are so forgettable I didn't even bother scratching out thoughts on them.
In sum? Don't buy this album. Pirate this album's two best tracks "All the Souls" and "Get me Out of Here", and disregard everything Third Eye Blind does until Stephan Jenkins really has something to say again...whenever that may be.
Final Score: 2 out of 5
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