[rating=3.00]
The classic neo-hippie band, Blues Traveler, who first made it big with their self-titled debut album in the early 1990’s, are back with their seventh studio effort, North Hollywood Shootout. Featuring a diverse range of material, John Popper’s crew returns to a modern musical landscape with new material that is grounded in what originally made the band successful, catchy melodic hooks, introspective lyrics, and a hearty dose of classic rock and roll.
North Hollywood Shootout contains some classic sounding Blues Traveler with some new experiments sprinkled in. The opening tracks, “Forever Owned” and “You, Me and Everything,” bring the listener back to the band’s glory days with infectious pop melodies, whimsical lyrics and flowing harmonica textures. The mellow folk-pop track “Orange In the Sun,” and the more easy-listening, “What Remains,” follow in this pattern, both sounding like they could have released on any of the band’s six albums.
The band takes on some new direction on “Love Does,” which combines electro beats with smooth keyboard layers and harmonica melodies to create the funky and most interesting song on the album. In addition, Popper does his best Meatloaf impression on the melodramatic “Borrowed Time,” bellowing lyrics to a quietly overdone piano accompaniment. Throughout the rest of the album, Blues Traveler offers an interspersion of classic rock songs like “The Beacons,” “How You Remember It,” and “The Queen of Sarajevo.” These tracks don’t do much to advance any new adjustments in their sound, but fill in between the album’s more central mellow songs.
Interestingly enough, with Blues Traveler newest release, their classic sound has survived almost two decades. Despite some musical twists, and experiments, including the funky spoken word closing track featuring friend and actor, Bruce Willis, North Hollywood Shootout will be palatable to fans of the band’s classic sound, but if you are looking for something new and innovative from the band that started the H.O.R.D.E tour so many years ago, you will be disappointed. Introspection, strong song writing, and good ol’ rock and roll anchor this album from a band that made their name with that exact formula.
