San Francisco pop rock band disappoints with sixth studio album
They've officially been in the game for 18 years — three middle-aged men grappling with real, rooted, feel-good talent in an industry pushing even the most established musical groups into a new, ill-fitting sound.
Train — band that's sung to all of the grand beauties of San Francisco, sprinkling cool relatability in its love affair with one unnamed, hippie-chic, space-traveling super girl — has slowly transitioned to pop and an already-told expectation.
Train's sixth studio album, "California 37," dropped Tuesday, leaving listeners to play the "give it time" game.
The album starts out strong with three tracks that fronted Train's much-anticipated return, teasing a not-quite-achieved balance of roots rock and pop idol inflection in its prerelease showing, including hit single "Drive By."
Three years have passed since the release of the band's last record "Save Me, San Francisco" (2009), which died out on the charts after the outlasted welcome of "Hey, Soul Sister."
Although many fans are loyal to Pat Monahan, his crazy gelled hair and unashamedly aged skinny jeans clung to the "Save Me" tracks. Critics expected "California 37" to continue Train's path to redefinition — a band-initiated mission to keep up with the times — but the album seems to fall short.
"California 37's" opening number, "This'll Be My Year," is nothing short of wonderful. We'd already gotten a little taste of the beat-backed whimsy through the past two decades in Train's "Studio Sessions," which were released on YouTube during the months leading up to the album's official debut. And it holds true to everything loved and followed in the Train legacy.
It's a personal scrapbook, a time line of all the big moments from 1985 to present — the heartbreaks, heartaches, pop culture phenomena, political powers and family struggles. Monahan starts with a look back at the Ronald Reagan administration, Princess Diana of Wales, the persevering rock power of Queen after Freddy Mercury's death — all while folding in the birth of his three children and the blossoming romance with his current wife.
He brings it all back at the end with the lyrics, "2012 and all I know is everybody comes and goes / Everybody sings and cries, makes the grade and takes the prize / In somethin', nothin', I don't care / Because I always know that you'll be here with me."
It perfectly ties up a flowing riddle of the landmarks — personal, national and global — with a real, heartfelt satisfaction. It's a pattern Train has come to embody.
"Drive By" follows it up with the upbeat single that has already earned the album fame at the top of the charts. As noted in the preview to this release, the lyrics are cheesy, and it strives to compete with top teenyboppers in its love-struck tale.
But, despite it all, it works. Like "Hey, Soul Sister," it's already been beyond overplayed, and in turn, you just can't get it out of your head.
The favorite, still, from the entire lineup is "California 37's" number three: "Feels Good at First." It mirrors "Marry Me" of "Save Me, San Francisco" in its slower, more stripped-down vocals, delivered with a mission to reach out to just one special someone, but appealing to a world's worth of lovers.
Monahan shines with his signature vocals, which are distinguishable by the first note of just about every song he sings, selling the album in this one fragile writing.
The song is about love and its sometimes fleeting nature, with lines like, "For every heartbreak, there's a sermon to be said / And this pastor in my head is preaching to the choir." But it still hits a personal chord with Pat's own tale.
His personal life is kept private; he's not sought by the paparazzi for endless musings on his family dynamic, but when you listen to his music, it's drawn out in every song. There's the playful, comfortable, lifelong romance that's been told from "Meet Virginia" to "Drops of Jupiter" to "Hey, Soul Sister."
After the first three tracks of "California 37", things start to trickle down to an anticlimactic end.
"Bruises" features 25-year-old country artist Ashley Monroe with a trying but lacking take on the Christina Perri-esque loved and broken 20-something scene. And from that song on, not much picks up.
There are songs worth listening to, some that continue Monahan's lyrical charm, but they're all widely forgettable down to the ominous ending song, "When the Fog Rolls In."
It's Train, and it's hard to hate the middle-aged Monahan swag, bopping around singing about Hefty bag–sized love and mermaids — just listen to the album — but "California 37" is very much a "just keep listening" 11-track release.
There's something you just want to love, but after the opening three tracks, the guys just start to fall out of that California roll.