ENUFF Z'NUFF


Enuff Z'Nuff 1989
Strength 1991
Animals With Human Intelligence 1993
1985 1994
Tweaked 1995
Peach Fuzz 1996
Seven 1997
Live 1998
Paraphernalia 1999
Ten 2000

It's not the worst thing in the world to make pretty much the same album over and over again in one set style, though it's another thing entirely when the style you've got is one which has already been explored before.  Such is the case of Enuff Z'Nuff, a band who is pretty much the modern equivalent of Cheap Trick (i.e. combining hard rock and metal with Beatles-esque melodies and harmonies).  Other obvious influences can also be found in Donnie Vie's vocals, which sound like Elvis Costello crossed with the intonations of John Lennon in a particularly poppy mood, and the occasional glam-ish theatrics of Queen.  So yeah, this is an almost entirely unoriginal band (despite what one Howard Stern might tell you), one that's easy to disrespect on account of merely coasting on the success of their predecessors, especially since they never really add much to that success..

So as a result, I would probably be seriously annoyed with this band - if it weren't for the fact that I can easily find some of the highest quality pop melodies of the last 10 or 15 years within the running time of their albums.  Although often this catchiness borders on formulaic, but more often than not, Enuff Z'Nuff backed their solid melodies with lyrical cleverness, moods ranging from almost giddily happy to hopelessly bleak and occasional experimentation, though not in a way that allowed them to deviate from their established formula too much.  And although none of their albums come even close to being a beginning to end songwriting masterpiece (though they do have their share of total gems), apart from the crappy demos album 1985, every one of them has at least a few great singalong gems on them, so they usually provide a pleasurable listening experience at least.  And thanks to my brother (who's quite the fan), I've got all their stuff (at least the studio work) at my disposal to review, so here it is.

--Nick Karn

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ENUFF Z'NUFF (1989)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Fly High Michelle, New Thing.  LOW POINTS: None.

Don't let the horrendous look of the band on the back cover of the album put you off - aside from this, Enuff Z'Nuff really shares little in common with the group of more deservedly forgotten hair metal bands of the late 80's and 90's they're often pigeonholed with.  Instead of hitting the listener over the head with generic crowd pleasing arena rock anthems and cliched power ballads, this band really takes great care in making their hooks as addictive, sophisticated, and memorable as possible in the fine tradition of pop songwriting.  In short, an album like this is a fine compromise for fans of both mainstream hard rock and pop of the late 80's - the heavier guitar sound and production style has a fine energy, and of course, there are a lot of well-written hooks throughout.  In terms of the band's catalog as a whole, this is probably their most consistently enjoyable and best effort, which is no surprise, since it's also their first one, and they've never really changed too much from the style here.

As far as standout classics go, the first side's got two immediate ones.  The opening "New Thing" is not only interesting in how the lyrics in the verses are so unintelligible yet it's practically impossible not to get the urge to hum the melody, but how well it uplifts your spirit with its' magical chorus ('get hiiiiii-iiiigh on the new thing...')  And the band's lone hit, "Fly High Michelle", really deserves that status - it's an absolutely tremendous, classic pop tune with not only a first class melody but a heavenly, soaring atmosphere helped out by (non-cheesy!) keyboards.  And to a slightly lesser, though still excellent, extent, "Hot Little Summer Girl" is such a happy, wildly entertaining summertime anthem that you'll actually be glad to have stuck in your head, and "For Now" shows they have quite a bit of talent for using appropriate chord progressions intelligently for an uplifting impact.

The rest of the material is actually quite fine as well.  Not really great or anything like that, particularly "She Wants More" (which has a somewhat generic and tiresome sleazy groove in the verses) and "Little Indian Angel" (whose refrain is kinda half-hearted), but good - even those two relative weak points both have solid choruses and verses respectively.  Elsewhere, the side closers indicate that happy pop tunes aren't all the guys have to offer - in fact, the slow, nearly 7 minute grind "In The Groove" might be the darkest song of their career, and actually remains very hypnotizing for most of that time, while "Finger On The Trigger" strikes me as the band's answer to the John Lennon-penned "Run For Your Life" on The Beatles' Rubber Soul, with the same scary intent in the lyrics, especially in the threatening middle section.  But of course, these are just diversions - the two remaining songs, the catchy, anthemic rocker "Kiss The Clown" (which has a party-like riff) and the yearning ballad "I Could Never Be Without You", are more representative of the sound on most of this album.  And of course, that attractive style, at least in my mind, never really got any better than on here.

OVERALL RATING: 7.5

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STRENGTH (1991)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: The World Is A Gutter, Blue Island, Baby Loves You.  LOW POINTS: Missing You, Heaven Or Hell.

Hmm... it seems that, judging from this effort, they're a little intent on riding the coattails of their predecessors, eh?  This time around, the late 80's production style is somewhat toned down, with more of a raw sound and emphasis on the overall melodies and harmonies.  Someone needs to tell them, however, that if you're gonna make a really pop-influenced album, it's not really wise to make it almost an hour long, especially since the songs themselves are a bit lacking in terms of diversity and creativity.  And also, it's not really a good idea to extend these pop songs to four or five minute lengths when practically all of them could easily make their point in two or three.  As a result, the amount of filler on Strength appears to be far more than the debut, which only had one or two filler looking tracks that were nonetheless still good. But here,. even the individual melodies (i.e. the entire appeal of the band) aren't memorable at all on a few of these songs.

There's also the added problem of the music sounding too recycled (the opening riff to "Heaven Or Hell" in particular is an extremely cliched 80's metal type, and "Long Way To Go" is just a generic, short 50's rock and roll-like throwaway), and are, of course, too derivative (the sound is extremely reminiscent of the Beatles and Trick in the first place, but it hits an excessive point in "The Way Home").  Plus, the title track, the boring groove "Missing You" and "Something For Free" leave much to be desired in terms of melodic 'strength' and all go on a couple minutes too long.  Oh, and if you actually cut all these tracks out, you still have a fairly normal length album, with such songs as the 'cool guys' anthem "In Crowd", the sweet pop of "Holly Wood Ya", an okay piano ballad "Goodbye" and the acoustic "Time To Let You Go" all being nice pleasures.

But those songs, of course, aren't what lift up the rating to something close to 7 - "The World Is A Gutter" and "Blue Island" are mostly what do that.  The first of these is seriously a candidate for the best song the band ever wrote - it just sounds so convincingly bitter and pessimistic in its' mood (in quite a clever fashion, I might add), but the fascinating contrast between this and the incredibly infectious melody works so well, and as an added bonus, it even has a killer riff. "Blue Island", meanwhile, is the requisite uplifting pop song, with one of the most magical choruses ever conceived by the band.  And you've also got your minor highlights like the second part of "The Way Home / Coming Home" suite, which rocks convincingly with its' fantastic riff-driven energy, and another pure pop gem in "Mother's Eyes".  These tunes make it seem a little unfortunate that Strength isn't as good as it could have been due to its' inconsistency, since at its' best it's melodically unstoppable and very well crafted.  It's just that, at worst, it's overly derivative, generic and not very engaging.

OVERALL RATING: 6.5

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ANIMALS WITH HUMAN INTELLIGENCE (1993)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Innocence, These Daze.  LOW POINTS: Takin' A Ride.

The heaviest Enuff Z'Nuff album ever, so I guess that fact alone makes this distinguishable from the rest of their output.  Not only does it just plain rock while keeping the mandatory pop catchiness at the forefront, but here, they must realize the risks of the 'five minutes is the most boring length for a song ever' theory (copyright Rich Bunnell), so they've actually compressed them closer to normal pop length.  In any case, this is probably one of the band's most consistently enjoyable albums, as song after song throws well-crafted hooks at you.  The only problems here, besides the lack of originality as usual, are that they still can't figure out how to successfully integrate pop and metal stylistics - the guitar tone often sounds indistinguishable from any other 80's metal band out there, and the solos often sound really generic, considering pop songs really have no room for wanking like this.  But hey, although both these things undermine the melodic quality a bit, there's no reason not to enjoy these songs at least somewhat.

Especially the one huge highlight here - the Queen-like ballad "Innocence" is an absolutely classic pop song, featuring quite possibly the most moving melody the band ever came up with (maybe even Lennon would be proud of this one).  Not only is the emotional sweep of this one effective, but it also features clever and subtle humor within the lyrics (take the subject of a young girl and add in the chorus lines of 'there goes your innocence' and you'll get the idea).  It leaves an impression, in any case.  To a lesser extent, "Right By Your Side" is a more prototypical balladic piece, with nice melody and harmony work upfront. But interestingly enough, the only other track that doesn't really fit into the 'hard pop' formula is probably the low point of the album - the slow, vaguely Eastern-tinged psychedelia of "Takin' A Ride" has potential in its' atmosphere, but its' meandering and repetitive arrangement goes nowhere.

But the remainder of the tracks are all pretty much hard rockin', catchy gems.  Well, maybe not all of them gems, as "Master Of Pain" and the opening "Superstitious" both have a little too much in the way of generic style and repetitiveness, especially the former's way of repeating the chorus of 'I'm a cold hearted master of pain...' for what seems like forever, but the melodies and riffs in both are effective.  As for the rest, there's really not that much to say about the songs individually - I guess the nostalgic, youthful atmosphere of "These Daze" is highly uplifting with its' two equally strong melodies, while both "The Love Train" and "Mary Anne Lost Her Baby" both marry fine-quality pop to clever lyrics.  The rest ranges from straightforward and engaging fare ("Rock 'N World" and "Bring It On Home") to slightly darker and moodier numbers ("Black Rain") to the sentimental ("One Step Closer To You").  Good stuff, most of it.  Not much more than that (other than a couple exceptions), but nice.  Oh, and in addition, this album contains great liner notes, including cool comic pictures for each song, while the band credits member Vik Foxx (who played all the drums on the album) as an "additional musician", and then subsequently mentions him in their "pissed off at" list.

OVERALL RATING: 7

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1985 (1994)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Fingers On It.  LOW POINTS: I'll Be The 1 2 Luv U, Day By Day, No Second Time, Marie.

Okay, now this one isn't very good at all.  Of course, this album isn't really the studio followup to Animals With Human Intelligence, but a collection of early demos from a few years before the debut.  The good news is that the tracks here flow together surprisingly well, and the production is certainly superior to demo quality (probably helped even more by the remastering of this one), but unfortunately, the actual material here really isn't.  If there's a place where the listener can really become annoyed with Enuff Z'Nuff wearing their Cheap Trick, Beatles, Queen and Elvis Costello influences on their sleeve, it's definitely here, as they're even more prominent than usual, and especially since the melodies here are much closer to generic territory than the well-crafted wholly memorable pop of later.  There's maybe one or two songs on this whole disc I can even remember after they're over for the life of me, and Donnie Vie's vocals, already highly average when fully developed, really grate on me in places.

The remainder of this review will be short, since only the playful arena rocker "Fingers On It" (which has a nice singalong chorus) and the untitled, unlisted bonus track approach quite good and memorable.  The latter song in particular doesn't even sound like it was recorded during this period - sounds more like a Strength outtake to me.  As for the rest of the material, only the really really moronic and ludicrous "I'll Be The 1 2 Luv U" (which sounds like bad solo McCartney or something) can be called truly atrocious, which I guess saves the rating from going down even further.  But still, the album is hardly helped by utterly dull ballad fare like "Day By Day" and "No Second Time", and weak Queen knockoffs like "Catholic Girls" (whose stupid chorus is at least memorable) and "Marie".  And the other tracks are impossible for me to mention - they sound tolerable while they're on, maybe even okay, but there's no way they can stick in my brain, nor do I really want to try to get them there.  Who needs them?  An Enuff Z'Nuff album that has an incredible lack of catchiness is useless.

OVERALL RATING: 4

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TWEAKED (1995)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Stoned, My Dear Dream.  LOW POINTS: If I Can't Have You.

For one of the very few times in their career, Enuff Z'Nuff actually dare to experiment (gasp!) a little more with their hard-edged power pop sound, as the amount of hard rock/metal here seems to have decreased somewhat.  Not that it's no longer apparent, but the songs here seem to move into moodier, more musically varied, territory, and as a result, this means that the instances of happy pop music writing are also more difficult to encounter.  That doesn't mean it still isn't in the spirit of John Lennon at least a little, though - there are a few melodic, confessional numbers, tongue-in-cheek rants and such things like that.  As for the overall quality of the songs, this one's right on par with Animals With Human Intelligence, though it lacks an absolutely huge standout song like "Innocence", and there aren't really any phenomenal, lasting tracks like the highlights of before, but it's at least consistently worthwhile.

Plus, there are several fine examples of the band attaining a grasp of their new direction - the opening track "Stoned" in particular is an exceptionally hypnotizing Eastern-influenced aura that seems to set up several almost contradictive moods, from driving to calm to tense, in its' melody. Not very memorable afterwards, but while it's on, it's quite a special atmosphere.  Elsewhere, "Mr. Jones" is probably the single bleakest song in the band's catalog, and "My Dear Dream" successfully combines the general uneasy mood of a lot of the album with an unpredictable, but never clumsy, shift to a poppier portion.  Even the ballad "It's Too Late", while having a beautifully written melody, is more on the 'angsty' side of beautiful than the cheery one, and it's honestly one of their strongest, while "Bullet From A Gun" is a good fill of tongue-in-cheek anger.

Amidst the spirit of Lennon arising again in more confessional fare like "Has Jesus Closed His Eyes", though, there are still instances of both the older Z'Nuff stlye in the heavy (the distortion-filled "Life Is Strange") and the melodic ("We're All Alright", one of the few instances of hopeful, uptempo pop here).  But chilling mood pieces, like "My Heroin", are much more representative of the direction of the album as a whole - check out the downright possessed vocal performance in this dreary drug-fueled number.  In all, the ratio of successful songs to filler is higher here than on most albums from the band, though a few songs do seem a little subpar - most notably the lounge-ish throwaway "If I Can't Have You".  Elsewhere, the blues tracks "Without Your Love" and "How Am I Supposed To Write A Love Song?" are a little generic and overlong, but still somewhat melodic.  And as long as this band is melodic, they can never be too unenjoyable.  Right, 1985?

OVERALL RATING: 7

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PEACH FUZZ (1996)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Message Of Love, Rainy Day.  LOW POINTS: Happy Holiday, Make Believe.

Once again, to make it appear like they're one of the most prolific bands in the 90's or something like that, Enuff Z'Nuff released yet another set of demos in the guise of a new studio album, these songs (I think) being recorded between 1986 and 1990.  But don't run away yet!  Just because 1985 was a forgettable collection of generic crap material that sounds demo quality doesn't mean this stuff is - not the first half of it, anyway.  That side of the album, in fact, shows the positive effects of how well they were doing at finding a style (and after all, the debut was, in my opinion, their career peak, and some of this stuff was probably recorded at the same time) - it contains some of the most straightforward, sweetest, but most downright enjoyable power pop of their entire career.  The other side, however, shows a band that doesn't even really have a grasp of how to write a decent pop song that isn't corny, unmemorable, shamefully derivative, or any other negative quality.  But we'll get to both sides here.

Probably the best example of how well side one works is also the highlight of the album - "Message Of Love" could quite possibly be their dippiest song ever, about as uptempo and charming as The Monkees on a particularly good day, but that's actually a compliment.  Naggingly catchy and thoroughly addictive pop at its' best.  "Rainy Day" is also lightweight pop done very well - the child-like sentiments in the lyrics and background nuances go with the melody extremely well, while "Let It Go" and "Who's Got You Now" showcase that the group had developed its' proficiency for writing compelling hooks and harmonizing together.  But all this pop influence doesn't mean that they couldn't rock out at all - in fact, the opening "You're Not Me" is extremely similar to the Animals With Human Intelligence opener "Superstitious", only superior in terms of riff and overall melodic flow.

But unfortunately, that's only one half of the album, as we've got a second side to deal with here. And the news isn't too good.  For all I know, this side could have been recorded at exactly the same time as the first, but the end results produce basically the exact same feeling in me as most of 1985 - where exactly did the captivating melodies go?  There sure aren't any here - only two songs are even worth mentioning, just to confirm how crappy they are.  "Happy Holiday" is just extremely corny drivel that's probably a career low point, and "Make Believe" is a completely faceless prom number that should be wiped out of existence.  Not that the other three songs are awful or anything (though they do drag while they're on), but you simply don't need to waste your time on them since there's only so much music you can enjoy in life.  Still, although I can only give the album a low 6, at least it's a step up from 1985 in that half of this is probably as good a stretch of fine pop as the band ever came up with.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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SEVEN (1997)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: L.A. Burning, Wheels.  LOW POINTS: We Don't Have To Be Friends.

Yet another attempt to make the band seem more prolific than they are.  But don't worry, it's not another crappy demos album - it was originally released as a 'Chip and Donnie' solo album Brothers in 1993.  And seeing that Chip Z'Nuff and Donnie Vie practically are Enuff Z'Nuff, it was later conveniently reissued under the band's name as their seventh album (how convenient). I guess they wanted to explore a bit more of a stripped down direction than usual in offering more acoustic oriented numbers and ballads and mixing them with their usual power pop material.  Actually, there are quite a few people that consider this the best album from the 'band', which is certainly understandable, since this sound really doesn't vary much from any album they've ever done except a little in mood, you'll get varied opinions on that issue.  But does my opinion swing in favor of it?

Well, to a point, yes, since there is some top-notch material here.  The opening "Wheels" is certainly among that distinguished pack, as it combines an instrumental melody based on some of kind of neat descending amusement park-like noise (maybe with keyboards?) and a really sweet melodic chorus for an uplifting effect.  There's also the category of 'songs that are annoying and dippy at first but grow on you because they're hook-filled and dynamic' ("5 Smiles Away"), and pretty groovy, uptempo stuff like "New Kind Of Motion" and the entertaining "On My Way Back Home", which has acoustic verses and a melodic Latin flavored chorus.  And though the subject matter kind of dates it, the heavenly, somewhat orchestrated verse melodies of "L.A. Burning" give the song a powerful dark mood and overall sweep that makes it sound all the more epic and enjoyable, making it probably my favorite on the whole album. 

As for the rest... hmm... practically every song on here has some sort of memorable hook, whether it be the infectious guitar breaks between chorus and verse (the slow ballad "Down Hill") or well-constructed guitar and vocal melody interplay ("Still Have Tonight").  Even when they get angrier (the closing "So Sad To See You" effectively shuts the door on a relationship in song quite nicely), the melodies stand out.  But for some reason, while the songs may be nice to listen to, there's nothing particularly powerful about them that really makes me want to listen to them again, and there's the added disadvantage of the album itself getting a bit weak near the end (the dull blues of "Clown On The Town" and the dull balladry of "We Don't Have To Be Friends"). But still, this is definitely one of the band's better efforts, and one certainly worth a listen or three.

OVERALL RATING: 7

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LIVE (1998)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Revolution.  LOW POINTS: In The Groove, Takin' A Ride.

Wow!  This is what I call live album!  Okay, so it's not the greatest album ever recorded, and the guitar playing on here (done by some guy named Monaco) doesn't exactly sound like live rock heaven.  But at least it doesn't gel into a noisy goo of hysteria like the Beatles in '64, as much as this band badly wants to be Lennon and McCartney.  Need proof of that observation?  They cover the Fab Four 1968 classic "Revolution" (in the electric version), and it sounds exactly like almost every other song Enuff Z'Nuff themselves ever recorded.  And since it's a Beatles song, how can they mess it up?  That fact alone makes it my vote for the best on here, and there ain't very many candidates for that spot.  The problem here is that this band is about as much perfectionists on stage as they are in the studio, and I can't think of much here that's necessary if you don't already own the albums.

Of course, I agree that it works as a sort of compilation for the band in that regard, but even in that respect, it still falls short, since the track listing comes almost entirely from their first two albums (with only one song from Animals With Human Intelligence, and yes, it's the one bad song on it, "Takin' A Ride", done droningly boring as usual).  And most of the others are performed by the friggin' book, with the rare changes they make to the song, like "In The Groove", being dull ones - come on, 7 minutes was pushing it originally, why are you extending it to 9?  Sorry, but even classics like "New Thing", "Baby Loves You" and "Fly High Michelle" (wait a minute, they're the only three classics on here - damn mediocre band) are more preferable (and well-produced) in their original versions.

Oh yeah, and before I forget to mention this, live versions of the studio 'classics' aren't all this has to offer!  There's the Jerry Maguire soundtrack version of "Bring It On Home" tacked on at the end as a sort of bonus (yeah right), and two more by the numbers Z'Nuff tracks in "Social Disease" and "Runaway" (no, despite what the song titles might suggest, these aren't Bon Jovi covers - now go put your copies of Slippery When Wet away, kids).  And what about the absolute classic for all time, the 26 second interlude "Piano Vie"?  What cartoonish soundtrack genius!  Man, throw Live At Leeds away, this one's got it beaten - give me "In Crowd" over any of those boring Who pop songs any day... err... sorry, some insane Enuff Z'Nuff fanatic took over the keyboard for a minute.  Don't know how he got in here.

OVERALL RATING: 5

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PARAPHERNALIA (1999)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Freak.  LOW POINTS: None.

Well, by the last half of the 90's, Enuff Z'Nuff's commercial fortunes in America were just about spent, as they weren't able to break 'cult band' status, but of course, Japan seems to have a particular fondness for this kind of musical style, resulting in the album getting released over there a year earlier before hitting American record stores the following year with two (or maybe three) extra tracks.  But anyway, who really cares about details like that when the actual music is just more of the same stuff they've been giving us for the last 10 years, just a bit more on the heavier, raw side than any of their post-Animals With Human Intelligence work.  While the actual tunes here are good just about all across the board (songwise, this might be the most consistent album they've ever done), very little of them have much staying power - it's becoming more and more obvious that they're just intent to coast on their quite derivative formula.

Examples?  "Someday" and "Loser Of The World" are good quality ballads by themselves, melodic and affecting at times, but even more than previous songs in this vein, just come off as material that could have been written by Lennon and McCartney in their sleep, plus the Cheap Trick cover "Everything Works If You Let It" is hardly given a unique stamp (probably because Rick Nielson himself, and fellow Trick obsessee Billy Corgan guest on it as well).  But still, it's really hard to complain too much about the surrounding material - the yearning "Unemotional" and "All Alone" are just a couple of the pop pleasures you'll encounter here.  And the opening "Freak" is probably my bet for the highlight of the album, just because its' numbing riff and fantastic chorus screams are surely the most lasting things here, and really benefit from the underproduced sound.

The five track stretch beginning with "Freak", actually, is probably one of the finest, most enjoyable stretches of music the band's ever come up with. Nothing really amazing, but that aforementioned raw sound kind of adds a neat dimension to "Baby You're The Greatest", one of the most infectious and probably gorgeous songs on the album, plus it's always neat when the band mixes a pretty melody with decidedly pessimistic lyrics in the Lennon tradition ("Ain't It Funny").  There's also your typical charming pop tune in "Believe In Love", and I dig the cool acoustic guitar tone in "Habit".  Man, these guys sure know how to make it difficult for album reviewers to write stuff interesting about them, even though it makes for nice listening.  Another very capable (because of the fine melodies) but not terribly special (because of the utter formula and unorignality) effort.

OVERALL RATING: 7

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COMMENTS

[email protected] (Jesus' Raygun)

but "everything works if you let it" features billy corgan on guitar. that automatically makes it an instant classic!!

\m/ (o.o) \m/

jason


TEN (2000)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: What Can I Do?  LOW POINTS: Fly Away.

Okay, now the formula is getting tiresome.  Sure, Enuff Z'Nuff have followed essentially the same career path all this time, but at least there were some satisfying enough differences that made the records distinguishable (i.e. this one's more ballad-heavy, it's harder and edgier, more raw, more slightly experimental, etc.) but here, it seems like all the limited stylistics they've ever pulled off are just lazily thrown into the running time of this album.  Don't get me wrong - in terms of consistency, there's practically nothing weak here at all, as Chip and Donnie's considerable melodic skills ensure that they're still able to come up with fine power pop anthems after all these years, but a song just can't get by on melody writing alone - there should be at least something else interesting underneath the surface, and everything remotely interesting on here has already been done not just by their predecessors, but by the band themselves.

For instance, can anyone tell me what the difference is between lead single and opener "There Goes My Heart" and any other uptempo track they've ever done?  Sure, it has a fine singable melody, but there's nothing else to say about it.  "Your Heart's No Good...", "Bang On", and "All Right" fall into this same category - the melodies are developed enough that they're easy to chew on, but you know, chewing gum does lose its' flavor after awhile, and that's exactly the case with these songs.  There are also plenty of songs that find their origins in the styles of other albums - "The Beast" could easily pass for an Animals With Human Intelligence track, and the depression style of "Suicide" is pure Tweaked (except it's not really dynamic or interesting). "Fly Away" even takes its' cue from the Strength school of overlong repetitiveness.

This album is even a case where my pick for best song means almost nothing, since the difference in quality between it and any other song on here is so minimal, but at least "What Can I Do?" does the depressive thing well, with two distinctive melodies in that department (the 'what can I do to make you cry?' chorus and a verse line of 'I'm drowning in a vodka lemonade').  It's also a case, predictably enough, where the cover version (David Bowie's "The Jean Genie") is just a by the book runthrough that doesn't add a thing to the original.  Whatever.  In any case, his album is surely representative of the idea that if you're an Enuff Z'Nuff fan, you'll almost surely enjoy the album, but if you find the band pleasurable but not that substantial like I do, you'll see it as just another good, but highly formulaic, rehash.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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