Okay, so it's about a month old, but still new, whatever.

Anyway, as Shannon Hoon era Blind Melon was one of my favorite bands, I was pretty excited for this record, especially after hearing virtually entirely good things about it. Once I got it (about two weeks ago) I was however, rather disappointed. Most of the album wasn't bad per se, it was just boring. I mean, there were a few standout tracks, but the first half of the record seemed way too slow and mellow.

At first I thought they'd just picked a dull openner, it felt like it should've been about three-quarters into the album. I didn't like that, but it didn't bother me all that much, either. But then they just kept coming and coming... gah. In total, I think there was three or four songs I actually enjoyed, the rest just felt like filler.

And then as far as the atmosphere goes, it just feels like they didn't get the clean break from Shannon's legacy that you'd think a decade and some would give. The album's dedicated to Hoon, and that's definitely fine, but if I recall there were a noticeable amount of lines about drugs and numbing pain and the like, and considering the album is in memory of a man who died from a drug overdose, that seems kind of weird and disrespectful to me. The singer was decent as a singer, my only greivance with him is that he kind of sang like Shannon. If they'd gotten a total sound-alike, it would've been weird but I wouldn't have minded. If they'd gotten someone totally different J wouldn't have minded at all. But that halfway point that they hit, it just feels like I'm listening to a bad Blind Melon cover band. It should also be noted that for maybe, five or six lines on the album, he sounds a lot like Shannon, take that as you will.

So yeah, sorry for not including and specific examples of anything, but I listened to the record about two weeks ago and haven't listened to it in it's entirity since, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind. Also probably says something about how homogenous it felt that I can't name any tracks.

But whatever, Blind Melon seemed pretty popular amongst us, so I'm curious if anyone else has given this a listen and what their thoughts were on it.