Spin Doctors
Following the deserved drubbing that their sophomore studio effort, Turn It Upside Down, received in 1994, the Spin Doctors were in critical condition. To avoid becoming this decade's version of the Knack, they needed to recover quickly with an impressive third album. Unfortunately, this isn't it. The band relies on the same blue-eyed funk that helped sell 5 million copies in the U.S. of their 1991 blockbuster, Pocket Full of Kryptonite, but most of the songs fail to ignite. The Spin Doctors do an admirable job of blending styles—reggae, folk, blues and ballads—but Chris Barron's frail vocals fail to divert attention from the musical and lyrical mediocrity ("Oh, it's you/ I love the things you do to make me blue.../ Oh, it's me/ You love to watch me speed across the sea"). By the time you get to the last track—a ridiculous remake of KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)"—one wonders if it's a cheeky novelty tune or a desperate attempt to fill space. (Epic)
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