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 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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The Goo Goo Dolls
A CD like this makes it hard to keep track of time. I mean, one minute I’m in my thirties, listening to the Goo Goo Dolls new CD, and then suddenly eight years have past, I’m a geezer, and I feel as though I’m still listening to the same disk. Where did the years go? Am I some modern-day Rip Van Winkle or are the Goo Goo Dolls in a time warp of their own?
“Let Love In” is the new collection of songs by the Goo Goo Dolls, and it is so reminiscent of “Dizzy Up the Girl” that it confuses me. Even the packaging is virtually identical, featuring photographs of some devastatingly gorgeous and innocent-looking girl, dispersed throughout the lyric book. But forget the packaging, the real flashback is in the music itself. Rather than cop to new trends, or update their methods, the Goo Goo Dolls are sticking hard to the formula of their best-selling disk. Each track is a mini-masterpiece of production (thanks to uber-producer/songwriter Glen Ballard), perfectly suited for contemporary radio…provided contemporary radio is still interested in mainstream rock music. To make matters simple for the programmers, “Let Love In” includes an instantly likeable cover version of Supertramp’s “Give a Little Bit,” trussed up with power-strummed acoustic guitars and a snappy arrangement. I’m sure Supertramp is quite pleased. This song has been available for a while now (again, just like “Dizzy Up the Girl,” which featured the song “Iris” although it was already available for months).
Once again, Johnny Rzeznik has written a batch of songs with strong melodies and hooks that immediately seep into your brain. This time around, bassist Robby Takac also takes up the challenge of providing commercially viable material by contributing two excellent tracks of his own (“Listen” – written with Rzeznik – and “Strange Love”).
The songwriting/production combination is so glossy and neat that it’s hard to hear through the sheen and determine if the songs actually have any emotional substance. Rzeznik certainly sounds heartfelt on each track, but if you have any cynicism in your heart at all, you just gotta wonder, especially if you’re a guy. Girls, I think you better be careful around this guy Johnny R.; anybody who writes so many romantic songs must have an agenda, or an addiction to romance. Personally, it could lead to heartbreak, but it’s hard to fault his methodology. Yes, the songs are a bit bombastic and anthemic, but I can’t fault the band for pulling out the stops, especially when the songs are genuinely good. So maybe nothing has changed, but that only means that the Goo Goo Dolls know a winning formula. After all, this is their story, and they’re sticking to it.
Grade: 
 
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