album #6

third eye blind (third eye blind)

This is an end of summer '04 album, and one of the great albums of late '90s radio pop rock. I suppose Third Eye Blind is an example of a "whole life to make your first album, and a year to make your second" dilemma- several massive pop hits from this record (including my pick for best pop hit of the '90s, "Jumper" (and "Semi-Charmed Life," another contender), and then from every record they've made since, the only track I've really heard and liked is "Never Let You Go."

In addition to the superstar tracks, I also always liked "Narcolepsy," there's a sweet lull in the way the guitars drift, and after the listener is pulled through a hostile dream sequence, the guitars return with real power. I always liked the melodic sneer of "London," too. This record is about evenly divided between, sneering, searing rebellions, mellow laments, and titanic pop achievements, all of them with the color of California and a current of self destruction. It's very '90s Romeo and Juliet, something romantically, apocalyptically suburban about it all.