Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Original Spin Doctors, September 14, 2005
The reaction to this record in the press and on pompous music blogs is predictably lukewarm in some places. The Spin Doctors, they say, "don't know their 15 minutes are up." The CD is "irrelevent." They should just "quit." It's hard to tell why there is so much animosity towards the Spin Doctors amongst these people when the band's early-1990s success did not involve them breaking into people's houses and forcing them to listen to "Two Princes" thousands of times in a row at gunpoint (at least according to the federal judges who cleared the band of any wrongdoing in a 1993 case), but actually only occurred because the public enjoyed their hit singles and album "Pocket Full of Kryptonite" enough to catapult it to multi-platinum status.
For those who are actually interested in listening to the album rather than making jokes at its expense, it's actually really good. Though my first impression is that, quality-wise, it sits right below the first two albums and above the second two in terms of overall quality, it also combines some of the better elements of both the "original" era Spin Doctors and the "dark ages" when they lost Eric Schenkman and Mark White and added assorted members along the way. There is slight experimentation, as on the latter albums, but it is mostly reined in to conform to what the Spin Doctors do best, bass-slapping, guitar-shredding, catchy pop-funk music that defies the "jam" definition because, no matter how much old bandwagon fans may be loathe to admit it, the songs are full of hooks and accessible to an audience that might not be interested in going to see Phish or The String Cheese Incident.
Each band member has certain moments where they shine -- drummer Aaron Comess on "I'd Like To Love You, But I Think You Might Be Crazy," Schenkman on "Genuine" and at the end of "Can't Kick The Habit," Mark White on "Sugar" and "Safety Pin," and Chris Barron pretty much all over the place, singing with the most non-contrived sentiment since "PFOK," probably due to the long layover in terms of years and life experience (he went through vocal chord paralysis) since the last album.
Overall, this CD is a very good release from The Spin Doctors that captures the feel-good nostalgia of a reunion tour without being a redundant addition to their catalogue, even if the hook to "Genuine" sounds suspiciously like "Off My Line."
My only criticism here is that the Doctors, or their record labels, seem to have an uncanny knack for choosing singles that are virtually guaranteed to bomb on the airwaves. In the tradition of "Cleopatra's Cat," "Can't Kick The Habit" is a good song that just doesn't make sense on the radio. On a CD where nine songs can be mostly categorized as "pop," there isn't a good reason that an eight-minute contemplative ballad needs to be chosen as the "hit." The radio edit, furthermore, cuts out half of the song to make it short enough to be played, and as a result eliminates the ridiculous extended guitar solos at the end that help to make it a stand-out track in the first place.
That said, it is unlikely the band is releasing this CD to unleash a renewed torrent of "Spin Doctors-Mania" upon the nation; so perhaps it's best that it will only end up in the hands of the fans who have stuck by the band even as they have become a joke in the eyes of the mainstream.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rockin', funny, heartfelt, great-sounding, September 15, 2005
Wow, who knew?
This album just plain rocks... superior songwriting, humor, great musicianship (who plays drums better than Aaron Comess? WHO?), wicked guitar playing, utterly distinctive bass playing, and the beautiful humanity of Chris Barron's voice singing some of his coolest lyrics ever.
Some people are lucky to know how good the Spin Doctors are and were...others have yet to find out. If you liked Pocket Full of Kryptonite, you will really like this record..I'm not sure I could say that about any other Spin Doctors studio album. All of the qualities that made that a for-the-ages album: catchy songs, hard rockingness, humanity, funk, are here, too, but with a decade of life experience (not just for the musicians but for us listeners). Give this album a try...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They're back, finally, September 14, 2005
Awesome new album by the Spin Doctors - the first new album since 1999 (Here Comes The Bride), but the first album by the original line up since 1994 (Turn It Upside Down)!
Ten songs in between funk, rock and pop - unforgettable hooklines (Margarita, My Problem Now, Nice Talking To Me) and great jams (Can't Kick The Habit, Genuine, I'd like to love you).
Definitely the best SD album since "Turn It Upside Down" - check it out, you won't regret it.
And the additional DVD is a nice treat as well: including a 10-minutes documentary and 4 live tracks. Great!
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