Third verse same as the first....

When the Goo Goo Dolls first let slip that they were recording a new album, 4 years after the last offering 'Let Love In', there was alot of talk about being rockier, stripped-down, even darker. As someone who has a great love of the Goos, i was damn excited by the prospect of a return to the heavier, punkier sound that shone through their earlier albums. Well now 'Something For The Rest Of Us', the 9th album from the band, is with us. Does it hold up to the scrutiny fans are going to pile on it? Let's find out!

The first track 'Sweetest Lie', bursts over you in much the same way as 'Stay with You' started off the previous album - a brilliant rush of pop-rock filled with the standard Goos lyrics - love, loss and all that jazz. It's a good start to an album that actually starts to fulfill the promises of a rockier return-to-form. Then the next track, 'As I Am' kicks in. It's a step down from the opener - a mid-tempo 'thank you for loving me' number, but still engaging enough to keep the attention.

Now I'm not going to go through an exaustive list of the songs, but the bottom line is that, if you're a fan of the Goos, you're going to find a lot to like about this album. The instrumentation never really moves away from the standard vocals/guitar/bass/drums malarky, but they have never been a band to mess about with accordions or bagpipes. However, as the album played through, I couldn't help but notice a real lack of actual rock songs. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of moments - the electric solos come thick and fast, and the distortion never loses it's edge. But the majority of tunes lack the 'darker' edge that was promised: lyrically they revolve around the same love-and-loss vein frontman Jon Rzeznik has been mining... well since 'Name' first introduced a mellow side no-one had seen up 'til then. Then again, i'm not entirely sure lyrically the Goos aren't 'dark' anyway - the ratio of sadness to upbeat is pretty bleak, with songs ranging from despairing of life ('Big Machine') to outright bitchyness (the beautifully cutting post-divorce song 'Sympathy'). The band flirts with some more mature orchestration - lead single 'home' uses a cut-down minor verse, surprisingly effective despite the rather camp use of 80s synth, while the closer 'soldier' is a downbeat extensive metaphor comparing a life collapsing with a soldier in the trenches. But frankly, it seems like Rzeznik and his boys are incapable of keeping a lid on the bouncy harmony-laden melodies, and throughout the album's more melancholy sections there is always a sing-along chorus waiting in the wings to jump out and turn the song into a hands-in-the-air singalong.

One of the best descriptions I ever heard of Snow Patrol was that they were stuck in 'arena-rock purgatory' - churning out the same basic tune because it sold records, not because it was what the wanted to play. I honestly have thought at times that the Goos are held down by the same chains - 'Name' and 'Iris' were such massive hits, and so different from their typical output at the time, that they basically shackled the band to inoffensive pop that is full of lyrical emotion and no... I hate to use the word 'soul', since it seems soo cliche, but it honestly fits. Some tracks out of the last few albums have been so transparently trying to cash in off 'Iris''s popularity that you can't help but feel something else than musical love is pushing Rzeznik's songwriting pen.

I realise that last paragraph sounds amazingly harsh on the band, but it was not meant as that - apart from a choice few I have enjoyed nearly all of the post-Iris output. It's just... when you put it up against the early albums there is little doubt that their sound has strayed out of the rock it once inhabited, and firmly into the pop territory. That's what this album is - despite all attempts to the contrary, it's a pop album. And I'm ok with that, but I can't find myself wondering what would have happened if they'd really let rip and pushed back against the legacy Iris left them with...

Admittedly a large portion of this feeling is fueled by the bonus tracks: a pair of covers. 'Postcard from Paradise' is a Paul Westerburg number, that bounces like Bon Jovi at his happiest, with just the lightest touch of harmonica. 'Rough Boys', on the other hand, is almost worth the price of admission alone. If (when!) you get the album, I suggest grabbing the special edition off iTunes, or somewhere that has this track attached. It is both hands down the rockiest track on the album, and the best. A cover of a Pete Townsend tune, it quite simply rocks. It reminds you what the band can do when they put their mind to it, and is well worth tracking down however you do it.

In the end it has to come down to whether the album is worth getting. And I have to say yes. Definitely. It's well worth the money, unless you have a crippling aversion to listening to light rock. Just try not to think too hard about where that darker, edgier album we were promised went...