This is a TGEFM reader-submitted review. It may have been edited for content, spelling, or grammar but otherwise reflects the thoughts and opinions of the submitter.
Review by Ben Eastman
Warner Bros. – 12 Aug 2022
Aged punks turned alt-rockers release a record worth listening to.
Is there any greater anime betrayal than the Goo Goo Dolls? Their initial turn as the drug-addled punks from Buffalo on Jeb and their self-titled efforts morphed into The Replacements cosplay on Superstar Car Wash and the breakout A Boy Named Goo. After the success of “Iris”, they released Dizzy Up the Girl before gradually settling into a long career as jangly dad rock and supermarketwave.
I had occasion to consider their career arc last month while at a Goo Goo Dolls concert at the Wolf Trap, where I sat in the front rows, drinking $14 craft beer out of the venue’s $6 mugs while a babysitter watched my children at home. (Perhaps when sitting in a glass house of my own making, I shouldn’t lob too many stones.)
Amid the greatest hits of the last thirty years, the Goo Goo Dolls trotted out several new songs from the record they just released, entitled Chaos in Bloom. Inspired by the last two years of pandemic, these songs seemed inspired and energized in a way I hadn’t heard from the Buffalo outfit in at least a decade.
So, in the interest of music journalism, I’ve listened to the album a dozen times so you don’t have to.
The records starts off strong. Opening track and lead single “Yeah, I Like You” sports a catchy chorus, with a synth that kicks in during the bridge and brings it all home. The next track, “War”, gives the drummer a real work out, as the tom tom work drives the whole song. “Loving Life” is a reminder that the original lead singer, Robby Takac, is still a band member and can weave sonic magic from time to time. “Going Crazy” is a straight ahead rocker that highlights the gruffer side of Rzeznik’s voice
It’s not to say there aren’t clunkers on this record, most of which are on the second half. “Save Me from Myself” is peak supermarketwave—a song carried by soaring melodies that lacks the catchiness to play at 11am in your local super market. “Past Mistakes” seems to flirt with disco, while “You Are the Answer” sounds like a properly forgotten B-side from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
My highlight from the album is “Day after Day”. This power pop track bounces along with a catchy guitar riff, backed by whoahs and huge-sounding drums. If more of the album exhibited this aesthetic, I would say that it was the first return to form for the Goo Goo Dolls since Gutterflower.
If you’re like myself and pine for the Dolls of yore, you’re not going to be impressed by much of this record. However, if you’re also like myself and are looking for something new to play on Spotify around your kids while they’re still impressionable, you could do worse than queue up Chaos in Bloom.
