On their 4th full length effort, and first of two that would hit record store shelves in 2000, Everclear went for the sales register juggular so to speak, hoping this album of more melodic, poppish songs would spur them into the stratosphere of album sales. Unfortunately, this seemingly new emphasis on sales figures completely ruined the album, which may be part of the reason that Volume 2...Good Time For a Bad Attitude has yet to go gold.

What makes this record so disappointing is the fact that it follows the band's best effort to date, 1997's infectious, yet challenging So Much for the Afterglow. Lead singer/guitarist Art Alexakis has added a new title, that of producer. He should've stuck to letting someone else handle those duties.

In many ways, Alexakis looks back on his past with the songs on this record, be it the irresistible AM Radio (complete with sample of Mr. Big Stuff), an ode to the pop music played on what else, AM Radio in the 70s, or with the band's cover of Van Morrison's classic Brown Eyed Girl.

While AM Radio is very successful, the Morrison cover is nowhere near as such. To be fair to the band, no cover version could ever really touch the original, but I've heard other attempts that come a lot closer to respectibility than this.

First single Wonderful is bland generic radio pop in the vein of Matchbox 20 (who ironically, Everclear is touring with at the moment of this writing). While I have heard worse songs, Wonderful just does nothing for me, and I don't see it as being wonderful at all.

The best song on the record though, is the contemplative ballad Otis Redding. Repetition in the lyrics works very well here, simultaneously keeping the simple theme of the song intact, while truly reflecting Alexakis' thoughts.

The constant "do you remembers?" made me come up with one of my own. "Do you remember when Alexakis was able to write a good rock and roll song?" While the ballads on this album aren't bad, anything upbeat save for AM Radio is poor when compared to the band's previous body of work.

Volume 2 is up next, and I can only hope that that record holds up better than this one ever did.


Recommended: No