Music : Blue

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- You are of the Earth, I am of the Sky...
This is just one of those albums you have to have. It *needs* to be listened to. It really is unlike their other 2 cds, (though I love those too) why? It's really hard to say. There's a lot going on with this CD.

Picture a melody that's stuck in your head, and take all your inner most secrets and desires and fears and there you have it = Blue. You will relate to these songs in such an intimate unique way. Stephan Jenkins has the ability to write the perfect pop songs with a little added edge, humor and wit.

The opening song "Anything" does a great job of immediately reeling you in. It's short and to the point, with just the right amount of intensity and passion. Following that is "Wounded", (which, if asked, I'm sure plenty of die hard 3eb fans would say it's among their favorites) it's got clever lyrics and a really interesting sound to it in general. The climax and ending are excellent.

The second half of the cd is my favorite, but as a whole it's pretty great all around. The only song I could do without is Red Summer Sun, (and only because there's a part in the middle where Stephan Jenkins does this weird screaming as if recalling old hair bands of the 80's). If that part wasn't there, the song would be good. I love the ending of it, with it's ambient trippy quality and cool layering.

"Camouflage" is probably my favorite-- this song is so incredible and unlike anything I've ever heard. It would be in the soundtrack of my dreams, and I mean my literal DREAMS because the song itself is almost other worldly. If I had to describe the way it makes me feel while listening to it, I'd say it's like riding a roller coaster at night...when you're approaching the top of the steepest hill, your eyes closed just as you're about to fly down. Then it's like all those feelings as they swim inside your head at once: sound echoes around you, the air whirring, colors blending into one big loopy stream. Amazing. 10/10

...But now that I think of it, really most of the CD is like that. It's like a summer carnival late at night where everything is a little weird, but you're having a great time. (and you never forget it)

Rating:

- Better each time
I am an avid 3EB fan and I just love their first album. So of course like any normal person I looked into their second and with the help of clips and this site I decided to go get it...

Well all I have to say is BUY IT. I don't know why people were dissapointed (those who were). I think they only listened to the CD a few times. Because the first time I put it in, I was kind of like... umm is this 3EB? But then by the 10th or so time, it was just getting better by leaps and bounds... The catchy synth lays, the hot hooks, the awesome emotion packed lyrics and the 3EB classic tempo changes (remember Narcolepsy anyone?) really keep this album rolling. ALL the way. The short but powerful Anything probably was the longest to get used to... But it is a great thing in its own rite and I recommend that if you listen to it do it all the way because its length and ending somehow change the whole sound it has. The comes Wounded. My gosh. If heaven has a soundtrack I hope thats on it. My fav of the whole CD along with 10 Days Late, another amazing track with awesome lyrical motives and sound. Never Let You Go, cliche as it is, is great too. So are the rest all the way. Then you hit 10, Farther, and it gets even better. The instrumental is nice, and even the closers dont dissapoint (but as we know that was never 3EB's problem).

Basically, if you really like 3EB go buy this. Dont listen to those few who "were dissapointed". I would have been one if I hadnt given it a real try and I love it. I'll be combining all three of their CDs soon to make the best sound ever.

Final line, buy it. listen. a lot. and you wont be dissapointed. i promise.

Rating:

- The Best of Modern Rock
Third Eye Blind's 'Blue' has continued to be my favorite modern rock album for almost 7 years since it came out. The recording techniques and extreme caution they took to record the exact guitar sounds, levels, panning, and so on, are beyond incredible compared to every other modern rock album out there (even compared with their other two cds). I use this album as a model for my own music recording projects along with Incubus' Morning View - which I find to be another tremendous recording project.

The two songs that get to me every time, and I literally mean that I get emotional when hearing both of them, are 'Wounded' and 'Camoflage,' and possibly 'Anything.' But I do find 'Wounded' that single solitary song to be the most amazing musically engineered feat of the modern rock era, late 20th century. It might be all due to their engineer/mixer, but he knew well what he was doing and took a lot of patience and thought to it.

To anyone that appreciates the arts and expressive music, I recommend this CD fully.

Rating:

- On second thought...
"I'd give them anything... if they could actually make a record that would stand the test of time. Well, okay, I probably still wouldn't."

The above is a snippet from my previous take on Third Eye Blind's "Blue," circa 2002. Some time later, I'm printing a big retraction -- this review.

Proving that hindsight is 20/20, "Blue" is filled to the brim with beautiful, oozing pop-rock melody. There's probably as much potential energy in this record as a stone sitting on a cliff on the moon. When it spirals out of control like a rocketship with a bum rocket, such as on the pounding crescendo that is "Wounded," the results are stunning.

"Semi-Charmed Life" isn't present on "Blue," but the songs that are here showcase a versatility that few bands can manage. Several years after I'd forgotten about it, I pulled this record out and found that it had become exactly what I look for in my music.

At times, Stephan Jenkins' voice is akin to what would happen if a few almost-postal Zippo employees visited medieval China -- fireworks everywhere. As anyone who ever heard "Semi-Charmed Life" can attest, he has the vocal range to pull off a throaty purr one moment and a stratospheric falsetto that easily one-ups the emotional intensity of Chris Martin (of Coldplay fame) the next. Jenkins uses his voice like a hip-hop star, as a rhythmically-complex instrument of mass destruction, and out of the context of the musically-barren realm of rap, it works perfectly. Although his penchant for formulating sexual metaphor as the basis for his lyrics can grow tiresome to the discerning ear, it's at least subtle and tactfully-executed, in stark contrast to idiots like Chad Kroeger from Nickelback. ("I like your pants around your feet," anyone?)

To my ear, the first half of "Blue" is the side of Third Eye Blind the public wanted to hear -- the radio-ready pop-rock band that gets shamefully mentioned in the same sentence as Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. The truth is, even those songs that earned them their fame were special in a very unique way: they display consistent songwriting talent surpassing pretty much any pop band of the moment that you can name.

"Anything" sports the most obvious metaphor of the record in "I'd turn my balls to sand just to see you," but its entire game is immediacy. The absolute last thing you expect upon the first few simple fingerpicked bars of "Anything" is for it to explode into a power chord onslaught, but lo and behold, that's exactly what happens. The lead guitar line is simple but utterly effective, and before you completely realize what's hit you, the song has reached the end of its short 2:00 duration.

"1000 Julys" rocks the hardest of any of the tracks on "Blue," carrying the listener through a giant sexual innuendo by way of tidal waves of burning jet fuel guitar that end with a rollicking bridge/outro that is sure to induce headbanging of dangerous intensity.

The second half of the record finds the band experimenting more with aural overlay and harmony; I find it to be their better half.

"The Red Summer Sun" sails through an overture song format wrought with a mixture of high-flying, distorted guitar and electronic effects that infuse it with a weird magnetism, and "Camouflage" is a spacey, reverberating bit of near-shoegaze that drips with the emotion its extremely high fidelity production provided for.

The sonic soup is seasoned by finely-composed typhoons of guitar chaos adding to the overall sound in the background. This is flavored like my vision of perfect music -- catchy melody surrounded by high fidelity guitar chaos. Pop-shoegaze for the new millenium.

Against the opinion of my former self, I give this near-perfect record my highest recommendation. It surely beats almost anything being released these days.

Rating:

- Not bad, but not as good as the first CD
About half of this CD is worth the money. It's generally a good CD, but some of the tunes are somewhat unremarkable compared to the debut album.......which is the CD that drew us to the band in the first place.

The most upsetting thing with this and other modern discs is the copyright protection. In order to make a compilation CD of the two discs I have of them I had to record the six songs I like on this CD using line in. This made it a pain in the neck.

I paid for this CD, shouldn't I have the right to break it down in to a compilation using the software and equipment I also paid for?

This kind of stuff only drives people to the pirating sites where it's easier to compilate the stuff you want. Copyright protection doesn't deter those who would profit from pirating because they can overcome the protection or simply record a copy using line-in then fast burn all the copies they want after that.

Copyright protection only hurts the music enthusiast like me, who don't mind paying for the music but feel I have the right to make a backup copy, a copy for my 200 disc changer and excerpt only the songs I like to another disc.

For this reason, I'm upset that I ever bought this CD.

Support independent artists who believe the consumer has rights too. The entertainment industry is one of few that don't offer satisfaction guarantees.......even Wal-Mart will let you return a lamp, even if you don't like the way it lighted a room after a week.

Rant over

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