Goo Goo Dolls - "Let Love In"

The Goo Goo Dolls are the type of band that does things I don't understand. (That type of band could perhaps be described as "any band who plays in a genre including the word alternative.") Their name -- really, what does that mean? You see little garage bands all the type with names like that and then some of them hit it big and none of us stop to think, wow, that's really strange. Second, their album covers. What do they have to do with anything? There are two classes of artists: those who have self-portraits on their covers, and those who don't. The GGD are in the latter category. (And then there's U2, who defies categorization anyway.)

Nevertheless! I am a GGD fan. Who couldn't love "Name," "Iris," "Slide," "Black Balloon" and "Here is Gone"? Their latest album, Let Love In, is a triumph. No, it's not mold-breaking or genre-defying or anything other than the "radio-ready rock" (as Rhapsody's reviewer puts it) for which they are justifiably famous. But it's good radio-ready rock.

My favorite songs (I've given up saying "the best" because that's subjective without admitting so) are "Better Days," a New Year's wish with beautiful melody and orchestration, and "Become," a sappy ballad of the best kind. (Oops, I mean my favorite. :) ) The lead-off songs, "Stay With You" and "Let Love In," are excellent, and the latter even stretches the well-known GGD sound a little. The album also contains a studio version of "Give A Little Bit," which is just as good as (meaning "nearly indistinguishable from") the two live versions they released as singles, complete with twelve-string guitar in the opening. (Rhapsody informs me that the original was a song by the '70s band Supertramp.)

There are two songs that sound drastically different from the rest (and a lot like "Amigone" from Dizzy Up The Girl, probably among others). I don't know if that's because Johnny Rzeznik (how do you pronounce that, anyway?) is schizophrenic or because he lets another band member sing (á la U2's The Edge, the difference being that The Edge can actually sing). I think it's not coincidence that none of those songs are hits.

So overall: four out of five stars, for being really great at what they've always done.