The Goo Goo Dolls - Boxes
 

http://www.googoodolls.com/sites/g/f...NA%253D%253D.2


Are they following some sort of trend for the cover? I mean, there was Songs of Innocence, Burning Bridges...

Hopefully the production on this one is a lot better than on Magnetic. The acoustic version JR did for TV appearances was WAY superior to the album version (whose production didn't even sound contemporary, but more like what Katy Perry was doing years ago).

I understand that a lot of people considered Magnetic a pop album, overproduced and etcetera. What I can say is that I 'agree' with you, but I don't know why I liked Magnetic.

Besides, after the disaster that Something For The Rest Of Us was, they had two choices: fall on the obscurity or stay in the business. They went on the second route and picking Shanks as the producer was a smart thing to do if they wanted to stay relevant.

Shanks didn't produce the whole album. The song with by far the cheesiest production was Rebel Beat, and that one was produced by Gregg Wattenberg.

Check this:

and compare it to this:

I don't get the hatred for SFTROU. I liked quite a bit of that record:

Sweetest Lie, As I Am, Home, Notbroken, Still Your Song, Hey Ya, SFTROU, Solider

Track of track I preferred it to Magnetic.

It's a good album but it was their first album after A Boy Named Goo that didn't produce any hits. If I remember correctly, the label was pissed with them with the quality of the first version recorded and forced them to record the whole album again.

I gues it's all just a personal opinion thing. SFTROU was distinctly average in my book. Had a couple of good tracks but absolutely pales in comparison to Magnetic for me.

Yes, Magnetic was overproduced, but the quality of the actual songs on it (in terms of the lyrics, melodies etc. - i actually liked the liberal use of mandolins) was far and away better than a lot of previous GGDs stuff. For me it's actually their most consistent album, there's only really Bulletproof Angel that I don't like.

The disparity between the production of the final album and how the songs sounded live is best illustrated for me by Keep the Car Running (maybe because I've never come across any live versions of Slow it Down or Caught in the Storm). This live version is so powerful and raw, and that all got lost on the final version.

Keep The Car Running is easily my fav. track from the album. However, Robbie's songs where great on that one. Easily his best since Gutterflower.

In fact, the albums got a LOT worse after Gutterflower. I still love some songs from each, but as albums, they're way weaker. From these three, SFTROU is actually my fav. Home, Hey Ya, Notbroken, One Night are all pretty awesome (although the first two are definitely better than the others).

I feel like Happiest Of Days is the first real song Takac wrote.

If I had to choose, I'd pick Magnetic over Let Love In, I don't like the feel of the album, is a little bit down, but I can't deny that Feel The Silence and Without You Here are two of their best songs.

I can. The two songs from that album I like are Become and We'll Be Here (When You're Gone)

The Goo Goo Dolls - Boxes
 

Let Love In was the first Goo Goo Dolls album I ever heard in full. Bought the tour edition back in 2006 which came with a live DVD of the band playing the whole album plus some classics live. Not a great album and like GS said, it's a bit downbeat but "Without You Here" and "We'll Be Here (When You're Gone" I think rank amongst their best.

SftRoU was ok but not very memorable. Haven't played the album in a long time and Magnetic I didn't even bother listening to as it seemed way too poppy for my liking.

I'll keep an ear out for the new album though.

...and now I feel like listening to SftRoU again in the car tomorrow!

Nice, what's your opinion on Gutterflower?


@Alphavictm
I like Become and We'll Be Here too, I forgot about those two.

The Goo Goo Dolls - Boxes
 

Sorry, were you talking to me?

If you were, well Gutterflower has possibly my favourite Goo Goo Dolls song in the world ever, "Here Is Gone". "Big Machine" is a banger and "Sympathy" is a good one as well. Haven't listened to this one in a long time either.

Honestly though, my favourite GGD album award goes to Superstar Car Wash.

YOU ARE CORRECT!

My sentiments exactly. Probably. I mean, #1 song is difficult, but Here Is Gone is a major contender. And yeah, best album award goes to Superstar Car Wash. Falling Down, Girl Right Next To Me (which sounds a ton like The Replacement's I'll Be You), Stop The World, String Of Lies, We Are The Normal...

My other favs from Gutterflower are way different from yours, though - It's Over, What Do You Need, Truth Is A Whisper.

Release date of the album is May 6th - don't think this was mentioned in this thread yet.

@Dave 1986
I was, sorry for that confusion LoL





Man... I know Dizzy is their biggest but Gutterflower is my favourite Goo album. I love all songs on it, except Takac's ones. Truth Is A Whisper is ****ing great, What A Scene, Machine, Here Is Gone, Think About Me (this one specially fits my dating history). Funny thing? I just discovered them when they were opening act for Bon Jovi. Off course I knew Iris, but never paid real attention to their body of work.

Just one thing annoys me, I liked their attitude but I think Rzeznik started to act like an emo after Let Love In. It seems that something broke this guy.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/rank-you...s-john-rzeznik

Read what he has to say about SFTROU.

The Goo Goo Dolls - Boxes
 

That's quite shocking what he said about that album. Never got a depressing vibe from it.

Also, I only just found out A Boy Named Goo had a 20th Anniversary Edition released last year, including bonus live tracks.

Wow, that explains! I remember Johnny being a very positive and confident guy, but after LLI that guy disappeared.





Dave, what I like about those live versions on A Boy Named Goo is that they sound really raw. After Dizzy they became a bigger band and started to use support musicians and off course they got a better production.

I had a quick listen to those live tracks on iTunes and they do sound very raw. I was thinking of just buying the live tracks from there as I already have the original CD and the imported CD version of the re-issue is nearly £20 on Amazon.co.uk. Unless there's another bigger deluxe edition with more content?

'Big news' on Friday according to Twitter. Must be the single dropping, it's only just over a month until the album comes out so should have something by now. I'm not a fan of the trend of releasing singles almost a year before the album drops, but this is leaving it a little late.

Yup was right. You can listen to it here http://www.xclusivejams.com/goo-goo-dolls/

First impressions are that its alright. It's grown on me since my first listen but certainly isn't as great as I'd hoped.

What is it with that overactive bass drum?

Song is pretty damn unimpressive. Sounds like Let Love In-era material crossed with EDM-leant production stylings.

I didn't like it.

Much better than Over and Over.

You think? I think it's bloody awful. Completely dirgish and boring.

Being better than Over & Over doesn't mean it's a great track.

I think it's okay, but unless the rest of the album sounds fundamentally different, this might be worse than Magnetic.

I'm really shocked at how many people (both on here and on a Goo Goo Dolls forum) I've seen knocking Magnetic. I think it's absolutely brilliant.

The production is awful for the most part and doesn't fit the songs at all. Keep The Car Running, Happiest Of Days, Come To Me are pretty good, but they don't sound all that great.

As with the last album, the songs sound a lot more organic live.

So I've just listened to the whole album.

It's okay. Quite good. Imminently forgettable, though.

The production on Magnetic wasn't great, but overall I think that album is far superior to this one. Boxes is nice enough, but none of the songs grabbed me like some from Magnetic did. It's also pretty electronic throughout - Magnetic was far more guitar driven. Some of those little flourishes that I loved (mandolins etc.) have gone too. Boxes all just feels a bit by the numbers for me.

Hoping that with more listens I'll get into it a bit more.

I'm not sure what to think of it yet, to be frank. Nothing stood out quite as much as Keep The Car Running from Magnetic did, and Robbie's tracks are noticably less grabbing than last time around. Hmmmmm. Maybe the production will grow on me, but the choruses are pretty weird on this one. Only a handful of them are traditionally catchy (quite a shame about Souls In The Machine).

Flood is pretty damn awful, though.

I think the choruses are probably my main problem with this album. Most of them seem to only repeat the name of the song with long instrumental gaps. Baffles me why so many songs on the album have that formula when the Goos are so well known for being catchy.

The title track is probably the most interesting thing on here, whatever that sound effect during the verses is, it's a great detail, and that final chorus line is super catchy. Reminds me of Let Love In-era stuff, but with different production.

So Alive could work very well live, and was easily the best choice for the first single. It's the only song on the album with a big chours, actually. The Pin is pretty good, but that's the thing with the album: It works for this one, but 85% of the songs on this album have that same structure and build-up approach. This could be very interesting in the context of other stuff, but a whole album of this is pretty tiresome.

Also, too much piano / keys, not enough guitar. Reverse would make a nice acoustic ballad, but those big beats with piano loops, it doesn't feel as intimate as it ought to.

Prayer In My Pocket is pretty much the same old Robbie stuff, but the production sounds off for that style, IMO.

I was listening to Boxes again other day.

Souls In The Machine is absolutely brilliant, except for the chorus that's just a huge mess. They should have handed the production on this one to Shanks.

I don't know how it performed in sales, but I really don't like the record. Hope Warner don't drop 'em.

It's a really really poor album - such a shame because I loved Magnetic. Can't understand why a lot of people didn't like it.

Has anyone heard the bonus track "Walk Away"? Much better than the entire rest of the album. It has that classic Goo Goo Dolls sound that the rest of the album is dearly missing (aka it is the only guitar-driven song on the album).