Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 04.27.2006
Will the world go ga-ga for Goo Goo again?
My Story
I love 90's rock bands. That blend of alternative and classic rock sensibility that became "modern rock" was just my favorite sound for a long time. So it should be no surprise that I've dug the Goo Goo Dolls since the moody and beautiful "Name". Somehow, though, the Goo Goo Dolls kinda fell off my radar in recent years, as they seem to have with most people. Sure, they've put out a few good singles here and there ("Iris", "Give A Little Bit"), but their presence isn't consistent enough to consider them current radio stars. I wasn't too excited about reviewing the new Goo Goo Dolls CD, but I figured it would at least be OK. Was I right?
Their Story
The Goo Goo Dolls came to be in Buffalo, NY in the mid-80's, a collaboration between Johnny Rzeznik (vocals/guitar), Robby Takac (vocals/bass) and George Tutuska (drums). The band's original sound was much different than the Goo Goo Dolls that broke big a decade later, a combination of thrashing punk and Replacements-style pop. At that time, bassist Robby Takac was handling the bulk of vocal duties, as well. The band eventually attracted the attention of Metal Blade, and their self-titled debut hit shelves in 1987. Jed followed in 1989. Neither album did much by way of radio play or sales, but both held shades of the potential that began to be realized on the band's third release.
Hold Me Up dropped in 1990 and found the Goos dropping their thrash tendencies in favor of a more accessible indie-rock approach. The album was a big hit on college radio, thus becoming the Goo Goo Dolls' first "breakthrough" record. It also gave the Goos their first taste of chart success, as "There You Are" reached #24 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. 1993's Superstar Car Wash was an even catchier, sleeker affair, but failed to catch fire commercially, even though the sound the Goos were laying down was beginning to break big on the radio. The band did accomplish two big feats with Car Wash, though, as it spawned the Top 5 Modern Rock track "We Are The Normal", a song co-written by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, a huge influence on the band.
The release of A Boy Named Goo in 1995 finally made the Goos a household name, with the huge hit single "Name". The new album and Top 5 single brought the band a huge audience and a lot of recognition. Goo was the powerful rock album that the Goos had been hinting at their entire career. A Boy Named Goo also marked the beginning of several changes for the band, as well. Prior to the release, drummer Tutuska left the band and was replaced by Mike Malinin. The band also decided to fight their way out of their Metal Blade contract (due to what they felt was an unfair royalty rate), and signed on to Warner Bros. Unfortunately, with all the success and change, the band seemed to lose confidence, as they had a great deal of trouble putting together a follow-up album.
The temporary loss of confidence disappeared, however, after the monster success of "Iris", a track that the band contributed to the 1998 City Of Angels soundtrack. The song topped the single charts for 18 weeks and earned the band their first Grammy nominations. During the song's phenomenal run, the Goo Goo Dolls released their follow-up album proper, Dizzy Up The Girl. Besides "Iris", the album included 3 other hit singles in "Dizzy", "Black Balloon" and "Slide", making the band's sixth studio release the high water mark of their career.
Unfortunately, the band made some bad choices in following it up.
2001 saw the release of Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce, a 22-song career retrospective that managed to not include any of the Goo Goo Dolls' hit songs (unless you count "We Are The Normal"). The purpose seemed to be to introduce the band to fans who hadn't been there at their more punk/thrash oriented beginnings, an odd reason seeing as how the band had become an entirely different best by 2001 than they were in the late-80's/early-90's. The album went nowhere, peaking at a dismal #164 on the Billboard charts.
Four years after the release of Dizzy Up The Girl, the Goo Goo Dolls finally returned with new material with the album Gutterflower. The album reached #4 on the Billboard charts, but didn't manage to spawn a big hit outside of "Here Is Gone", which managed to peak at #12. Critics and fans agreed that Gutterflower contained some of the band's best produced music ever, but it seemed like the alternative edge that marked the Goo Goo Dolls output seemed to be toned done or, in some cases, gone altogether. The album managed to move half a million units, but following the triple platinum success of Dizzy, you'd have to consider Gutterflower a disappointment.
During another long layover, the Goo Goo Dolls released the live homecoming CD Live In Buffalo July 4th 2004. As a bonus, the album included a studio version cover of the Supertramp song "Give A Little Bit".
The Album
On April 25, 2006, Warner Bros. Records released Let Love In, the 8th studio album from the Goo Goo Dolls and their follow-up to 2002's Gutterflower.
The Band: 7.5
Johnny Rzeznik: vocals, guitars
Robby Takac: vocals, bass
Mike Malinin: drums, percussion
The Goo Goo Dolls sound very tight on this record, and they should, as they've been together now for over 20 years. The arrangements on the songs are shiny and jangly. In fact, I'm calling this the Goos' most jangly record ever. The guitar parts are very nice (check out "Feel The Silence"), if not quite "loud" enough. And "loudness" is a big factor on this album: it's just not there. The songs all sound nice, but they're a bit overproduced. You can thank Glenn Ballard for this, a big name producer who has managed to "tone down" such notable rock bands as Dave Matthews Band ("I Did It"), Aerosmith ("Pink") and No Doubt ("Simple Kind Of Life"). Even though Ballard has a knack for making radio hits, his songs tend to be a bit forgettable. Of course, he's partly to thank for Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, so he does have that going for him.
Back to the album, yes, we do find the Goo Goo Dolls covering more "ballad" type songs, but don't worry, the band hasn't quite hit matchbox 20 levels yet. Johnny Rzeznik's singing still has that smooth but tear-soaked quality that made hits out of "Iris" and "Black Balloon". Robby Takac's vocals are, well, an acquired taste. The songs he takes the vocals on aren't offensive, but any vocalist that reminds me of C.C. Deville automatically loses a few points.
If you were a fan of early Goo Goo Dolls, you'll no doubt be disappointed in the band's continued journey towards "adult contemporary alternative", but then again, you've probably been disappointed since A Boy Named Goo. For fans of the genre, this album's sound is definitely soaring at its best and mildly forgettable at its worst.
The Songs: 8.0
1. Stay With You
2. Let Love In
3. Feel The Silence
4. Better Days
5. Without You Here
6. Listen
7. Give A Little Bit
8. Can't Let It Go
9. We'll Be Here (When You're Gone)
10. Strange Love
11. Become
Fans turned off by Gutterflower's mediocrity will no doubt be happy with the songs on Let Love In. To put simply, this album was made for radio, much like Dizzy Up The Girl (though not quite as refreshing as its counterpart was in 1998). Songs like "Let Love In" and "Feel The Silence" are full of the kind of power pop balladry that has brought the Goo Goo Dolls their biggest success, while the current singles "Better Days" and "Stay With You" have already proven themselves on the charts. Even the Robby Takac tracks are bearable here, with "Listen" being a particularly great number.
The writing here is great, too, with a lot of hopefulness to counteract the underlying sadness of Gutterflower. On the title track, Rzeznik sings "I'm banging on the door of an angel/Beyond the fear is where we begin/If only we decided to let love in". The Goos don't get much more upbeat than that, lyric wise. "Feel The Silence" starts off as a sort of melancholoy number, but when the chorus kicks in, with lyrics like "Everything means more now than words can explain. See, a very hopeful record, sort of in the vein of The Wallflowers' Red Letter Days.
There's also a reworking of "Give A Little Bit", which doesn't sound too different from the original single from 2005. I've always like this cover, and I still do, though some point to it as all that's wrong with the Goo Goo Dolls these days. Bottom line: it doesn't rock. Well, other than a few stand out moments, neither does this entire record. But what you get instead are some well written mid-tempo numbers that could easily be stand outs on any rock album.
The 411: The Goo Goo Dolls are back after a long layover, and in the place of the less focused work that appeared on Gutterflower, we get a great collection of pop/rock songs akin to the band’s glory days of Dizzy Up The Girl. Though the album and its production have almost put the kibosh on the Goo’s alt rock flare (a major minus), the band makes up for it in each song’s stellar crafting. Not recommended to rock out in the car to, but definitely one to crank up at night in your room.
