Blue [Clean] [PA]

Performer: Third Eye Blind
Engineer: David Gleeson; Mike Cresswell
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Third Eye Blind: Arion Salazar (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Mellotron, Optigan, bass, Theremin); Kevin Cadogan (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano); Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, Moog synthesizer, percussion); Brad Hargreaves (vocals, piano, drums). 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. This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Arion Salazar (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano, Wurlitzer organ, Theremin); Kevin Cadogan (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano); Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Brad Hargreaves (vocals, piano, drums); Chris Manning, Teal Collins, Caitlin Cornwell, Mauri Skinfill, Golden Gate Boys Choir, Ledisi (vocals); D.J. Chutney (tamboura); Marika Hughes, Carla Kihlstedt (strings); Ben Kramer (trumpet); Marc Capelle (piano, Clavinet); Steve Cohen (piano); Ren Klyce (keyboards); Jacquire King (programming). Audio Mixers: Jason Carmer; Toby Wright; Tom Lord-Alge. Recording information: The Mud Room, San Francisco, CA; The Record Plant, Sausalito, CA; Toast Studios, San Francisco, CA. Photographers: Achim Friederich; Alison Dyer; Jay Blakesberg; Steve Jennings. 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. Of all the second-wave post-grunge bands from 1997, Third Eye Blind cultivated the most dedicated fan base. Sure, Matchbox 20 sold more records, but for TEB devotees, the San Franciscan band carried the torch originally lit by such breakthrough alt-rock acts as U2 and INXS -- big, glossy bands that unabashedly celebrated both hooks and rock classicism. Under the direction of Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind celebrated these same virtues, but since they arrived at a time when there were a lot of glossy, even slick, bands marketed as alternative rock, it's easy to see why many observers believed TEB were no different than the legions of post-grunge rockers who dominated the charts that year. By the 1999 release of Blue, the group's second album, many of their peers from 1997 had faded away. Jenkins must have been aware of the fleeting nature of fandom in the '90s, since he pushes his band hard throughout the album. It's as if he's trying to shake the ghost of "Semi-Charmed Life," the ingratiatingly hummable hit that gave TEB success but pegged them, in many observers' eyes, as a bubblegum one-hit wonder. Blue is certainly somber and serious, even with its moments of levity. Almost too much so. TEB sound a little strained when they earnestly try to rock, and the same problem occasionally plagues their slower songs, though they do sound more self-confident there. This problem surfaces because they sound natural when they're a little loose; at that point, they're not too self-conscious to avoid hooks, which they seem to do quite often on Blue. While this self-consciousness mars Blue, it doesn't ruin it, because it lifts often enough (on "Wounded," "An Ode to Maybe," "Anything," and "Never Let You Go," the album's highlight), and because it announces that they're stronger and more serious than many of their post-grunge peers. It also illustrates what TEB truly excel at -- big, glossy alt-pop in the tradition of U2 and INXS. There's not quite enough of it this time around to make Blue the equal of its predecessor, but it should be enough to please devoted fans. [Blue was also released in a "clean" edition, containing no profanities or vulgarities.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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+

Along with such peers as Tonic and Matchbox Twenty, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind broke through at a crucial juncture in the '90s music scene. In between the twilight of grunge (from which they took some influence) and the ascendancy of nu-metal, Third Eye Blind championed the values of straight-ahead pop-rock with sparkling hooks and vocal harmonies featured alongside hard-hitting guitars and drums in equal measure. They hit it big straight out of the gate, with the infectious single "Semi-Charmed Life" from their self-titled 1997 debut album, and kept going strong past the turn of the century.

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