{"id":31861,"date":"2013-09-13T06:22:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T11:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=31861"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:37:53","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:37:53","slug":"goo-goo-dolls-magnetic-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/goo-goo-dolls-magnetic-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Goo Goo Dolls | Magnetic<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n– Managing Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"GooThe morphing of a punk-laced Indy rock band to Corporate Rock mammoths is sometimes a sad, sell out tale \u2026 and sometimes it ends up giving the masses songs, to name a few, like \u201cBlack Balloon,\u201d \u201cName,\u201d \u201cSlide\u201d and \u201cIris,\u201d creations that slap Father Time in the maw and let him know even after John Reznik is a bag of bones \u2026 people will still sing the songs his voice and his bandmates made famous. Now the gents of Goo Goo Dolls are back again, with Magnetic<\/em>, their tenth and uber-polished studio effort. <\/p>\n

You know what you are going to get with Goo Goo Dolls, but it\u2019s comfortable and welcomed, like sleeping with an old flame you haven\u2019t \u201cseen\u201d for a decade. Just the bubbly, infectious opening to \u201cRebel Beat\u201d puts a crooked smile on your face\u2014one that says \u201cyeah I expected it, but I\u2019m still surprised.\u201d When the bridge hits, and you hear Reznik breathily singing \u201cAlive is all I wanna feel, tonight \u2026 I need to be where you are,\u201d there goes your big dumb head, bopping around like you just don\u2019t care. And you shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s good. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a slam on the band in any way\/shape\/form, but Taylor Swift could have verily written \u201cWhen the World Breaks Your Heart.\u201d Yes, it\u2019s about heartbreak, but it\u2019s the saccharine-y lyrics, the yearning pacing of the lyrical delivery, and the musicality of the composition that makes you think \u2026 everything new is old again. \u201cWhen the world breaks your heart, I can put it back together. Write your name across the sky \u2026 I\u2019m always with you.\u201d If you can somehow find the cajones to grab an acoustic guitar and sing this to the girl(s) of your dreams, guys, she\u2019ll go to your prom or a bris \u2026 wherever the hell you want to take her. <\/p>\n

Starting a song with the chorus is a nifty way of pounding in the anthem before you even hit the verses\u2014you know what\u2019s coming, and you can\u2019t wait to get there. They do just that on \u201cSlow It Down.\u201d Now, it just seems Goo Goo Dolls are somewhat eternal adolescents, pining for a love that certainly cannot exist since \u2026 haven\u2019t they already written the song that would culminate in landing Ms. Perfect? But the rhyming is pre-kindergarten, \u201cI still remember you; the dizzy dance with me and you.\u201d Now that\u2019s risky, rhyming \u201cyou\u201d with \u201cyou.\u201d Goo \u2026 <\/p>\n

Melancholy is always a term aligned with most Goo Goo Dolls music, but it\u2019s sort of a downer when the fizzy Robby Takac on \u201cBringing on the Light\u201d uses his vocal front opportunity to sing what Reznik has been crooning over the course of the album already. \u201cThere\u2019s a place we used to go, it took the place of what we didn\u2019t know\u2014it\u2019s like a MAGIC SHOW.\u201d O \u2026 K. Robby should be singing about booze and tattoos and throwing waffles at Westboro Baptist Church freakshows. Not this. <\/p>\n

If you wanted \u201cIris,\u201d the closest you will get is \u201cBulletProofAngel.\u201d If you like Elton John, you are also going to love this track. The wind flows in the background, there\u2019s keys, elements at work in the backdrop, and Reznik\u2019s sort of gritty yet smooth vocal honesty carrying the best track on Magnetic<\/em>. Lyrically, they stop rhyming \u201cgoo\u201d with \u201cgoo\u201d and give you some insightful moment, like \u201cShe hears a secret choir that sings for me and you. You know I don\u2019t believe her but I say \u2026 I hear them too.\u201d There, poignant. Thanks. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast Hot Night in America\u201d is one of those songs that make you feel sad summer is behind you, sad that this isn\u2019t a duet with Sheryl Crow, and mostly, sad you didn\u2019t hear this earlier. It\u2019s a perfect radio hit. <\/p>\n

They end their magnetic reign with \u201cKeep the Car Running,\u201d a song that feels like you\u2019ve heard it a few times already on the album but who cares \u2026 at their worst, Goo Goo Dolls are merely \u201cgood.\u201d <\/p>\n

Safe, glossy, danger-free, stickier than a second-grader\u2019s hands after eating blue cotton-candy at a county fair \u2026 Magnetic<\/em> is at once great and bereft. To sum it up, everyone who hears the album ALREADY knew they could do this. Is there anything else they can, or want, to do? <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n1. Rebel Beat
\n2. When the World Breaks Your Heart
\n3. Slow it Down
\n4. Caught in the Storm
\n5. Bringing On The Light
\n6. Come To Me
\n7. More of You
\n8. BulletProofAngel
\n9. Last Hot Night
\n10. Happiest of Days
\n11. Keep the Car Running<\/p>\n

Label: Warner Bros. Records<\/p>\n

Online: www.googoodolls.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.3\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller – Managing Editor — The morphing of a punk-laced Indy rock band to Corporate Rock mammoths is sometimes a sad, sell out tale \u2026 and sometimes it ends up giving the masses […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[2317,1103,7681],"class_list":{"0":"post-31861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-warner-bros-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}