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Anything |
01 |
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Jenkins |
02:00 |
Wounded |
02 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
04:51 |
10 Days Late |
03 |
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Jenkins/Salazar |
03:05 |
Never Let You Go |
04 |
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Jenkins |
03:57 |
Deep Inside of You |
05 |
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Jenkins |
04:11 |
1000 Julys |
06 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
03:54 |
On Ode to Maybe |
07 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
02:36 |
The Red Summer Sun |
08 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
05:25 |
Camouflage |
09 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
04:35 |
Farther |
10 |
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Jenkins |
04:02 |
Darkness |
11 |
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Jenkins/Cadogan |
05:08 |
Darwin |
12 |
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Jenkins/Salazar |
05:47 |
Slow Motion |
13 |
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[Instrumental] Jenkins |
06:02 |
Third Eye Blind: Arion Salazar (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Mellotron, Optigan, bass, Theremin); Kevin Cadogan (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano); Brad Hargreaves (vocals, piano, drums); Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, Moog synthesizer, percussion).
Additional personnel: Caitlin Cornwell, Ledisi, Teal Collins, Mauri Skinfill, Chris Manning, Golden Gate Boys Choir (vocals); Carla Kihlstedt, Marika Hughes (strings); Ben Kramer (trumpet); Marc Capelle (piano, Clavinet); D.J. Chutney (tamboura).
Producers: Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind, The Mud Sisters, Arion Salazar.
Recorded at The Mud Room and Toast Studios, San Francisco, California; The Plant, Sausalito, California.
Third Eye Blind has enough vision to swerve clear of the sophomore jinx. While you won't find a "Semi-Charmed" on BLUE, there is enough thoughtful, well-crafted pop to keep the band in the grace of its fans. The album opens with the short, blistering "Anything," a track that cuts out just as the song's hook pulls you in. The radio-friendly "Never Let You Go" bears an unshakable chorus. "Deep Inside of You" shows 3EB to be developing further as accomplished power balladeers. A poetic stream of consciousness takes shape in "An Ode to Maybe." "The Red Summer Sun," which begins as an atmospheric and mid-tempo piece, goes off on a strange tangent that finds vocalist Stephan Jenkins doing his best Axl Rose impression, and then returns to a trippy outro that reprises as a hidden track at the end of "Darwin."
BLUE is a largely introspective affair, especially in tracks like "Darkness," where Jenkins sings, "And the world darkens around me / strange friends surround me." That perspective is the key that makes Third Eye Blind's songs hit home emotionally. The diversity and risks the band takes on BLUE will surely help the group avoid any one-hit-wonder labelings.
Reviews:
Rolling Stone (1/20/00, pp.56-7) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...finely worked-out chunks of serious gun-metal rockcraft that depend on the band's restless, edgy electric guitars....It's the sound of Stephan Jenkins thinking, stylishly and hard."
Spin (2/00, pp.110-12) - 6 out of 10 - "...Front cad Stephan Jenkins has no competition when it comes to equivocation....A band is only as good as its worst influences, and these guys virtually celebrate them....they are great communicators..."
Entertainment Weekly (11/26/99, p.94) - "...moves a bit further toward establishing their own identity....imbues the unforced energy and crafty musicality that make pop music sound good..." - Rating: B+
©1999 Elektra Entertainment Group