Third Eye Blind - "Blue"
by Robert Schwartz
This intriguing band scored a major, if poppy, hit on their first album with "Semi-Charmed Life" and since then comparisons to every bland, mainstream American rock band from Hootie and the Blowfish to Matchbox 20 and Live have been pouring in. Fortunately Third Eye Blind's second album, Blue, shows they are above or at least apart from those uninventive acts. Part power pop, part low-down rock and roll and part grandiose heavy, layered rock statement, 3eb (as they are called) mixes and matches a library of influences to put together some appealing music. Made up of hot San Francisco vocalist Stephan Jenkins, ex-Fungo Mungo bassist Arion Salazar, former Counting Crows drummer Brad Hargraves and Joe Satriani guitar student Kevin Cadogan these boys gel into a smooth unit that has a natural and unforced sound. Far from the tired and trite retreads that seem to dominate the American guitar scene, 3eb openly acknowledges its depth to past rock masterwork but sounds fresh and vivid in doing so. The band lets loose a good dose of energetic power pop at the front end of Blue with "Anything" and "Never Let you Go." From there they segue into some classic-style seventies-esque grand guitar work and actually succeed admirably. "An Ode to Maybe," "Red Summer Sun" and especially "Camoflage" pull of the coup of sounding familiar and fresh simultaneously. At one second you're convinced that Jenkins Plant-like falsetto shriek is falling short of the original but soon you're drawn into the atmosphere and pace of "Red Summer Sun." The end of the album sees them wind it down with melodic, foot-tapping ditties (most notably "Darwin") that showcase yet another aspect of what these boys can do. Kudos to Third Eye Blind for taking long-standing rock idioms and infusing them with new energy.
Over 200 music listings in this month's Tokyo Journal!!