The secret of life is finding your best grooves and jumping in
\nand out of them often enough not to get too bored or
\nself-absorbed.<\/p>\n
Okay, it’s just a theory, but it certainly came to mind when I
\nwas setting out to write my first review for “The Daily Vault” in
\nalmost a year. It came to mind because I’ve been out of this groove
\nfor awhile, and it feels good to get back in, and because I wasn’t
\nabout to take the plunge for anything less worthy than Train’s
\njust-about-magnificent
\nDrops Of Jupiter<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The first thing the sophomore album from this quintet had to do
\nwas conquer one my pet peeves — the way radio takes a “hot” single
\nand flogs the carcass so unmercifully that even the glue factory
\neventually says no thanks. Such, I fear, is the eventual fate of
\nthis album’s title tune, and it’s a damned shame, because it’s a
\nremarkable song. A steady building piano ballad with a witty,
\nfull-bodied string arrangement, the elements that take it to the
\nnext level are a brilliant lyric (actually, a poem imaginative and
\nambiguous enough to be called “lyrical”) and a chorus roughly as
\ncatchy as the Hong Kong flu.<\/p>\n
Of course, one great single and ten tracks of filler will still
\nget you a “D” from this reviewer. But it turns out “Drops Of
\nJupiter” is just one of a number of very strong tracks on this
\nthoroughly engaging album. “I Wish I Would,” in addition to another
\nclever lyric and strong arrangement featuring mandolin and
\nharmonica, tosses in a “doo-doo-doot-doo-doo” chant near the finish
\nthat’s every bit as infectious as the title track’s
\n“Na-na-na-na-etc.”<\/p>\n
There are a handful of fairly straight-ahead rockers here (the
\nleadoff “She’s On Fire” and “Respect” comes to mind), but even they
\nhave clever elements like the chunka-chunka electric rhythm guitar
\nof the former and the furious acoustic-strum rhythm guitar of the
\nlatter. Terrific harmonies abound, propelled by Pat Monahan’s
\nurgent lead vocals, with background vox from bassist Charlie Colin
\nand guitarists Rob Hotchkiss and Jimmy Stafford. Drummer Scott
\nUnderwood doubles on keyboards alongside the band’s producer, Pearl
\nJam maestro Brendan O’Brien.<\/p>\n
Under O’Brien’s sonic guidance, Train explodes its acoustic
\nroots-rock template with a wide range of styles on this disc, from
\nthe almost trip-hop rhythm of the hypnotic “It’s About You,” to the
\ndreamy jazz intro of the countryish ballad “Let It Roll,” to the
\nheavy electric crunch of “Whipping Boy.” In terms of musical
\nshorthand, it would be accurate — though unnecessarily limiting —
\nto compare Train’s sound to bands like the Crow(e)s, Counting and
\nBlack. It’s music that respects venerated rock and roll forms while
\ninfusing them with fresh passion and invention.<\/p>\n
And that’s the real secret to this album. In stark contrast to
\nthe pre-packaged attitude flooding out of your radio these days,
\nTrain has genuine range, and invests real emotion in these songs.
\nThey’ve found their groove, and they’re mining it like
\nchampions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6663],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37246","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-train","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37246"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37246"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}