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Sunday 2 January 2011

Random Review 2011 #1 Train - For Me, It's You



OK so my first random choice was Column 7 Shelf 1 CD 6 (C7S1CD6) and that was Trains 5 studio release and 6th release over all if you include the live album imaginatively titled Alive at Last.

So where do I start, Train originate from San Francisco and truthfully other than singer the Pat Monahan who looks a bit like Kelly Jones' (Stereophonics) older brother, I would and could have walked past the rest on the group in the street and not recognised them.

I first came across Train with the release of the great single Drops of Jupiter which seemed to be all over VH1 and MTV in 2001 when I actually watched these channels. It was a blast of American Rock from a sunnier place that suited my musical taste perfectly back then. Looking back the lyrics were crap 'the best soy Latte that you ever had and me' really! I've been to San Francisco twice and still never heard anybody ask for a soy latte! However the hooks of the song are great and lyrics aside I love the song.

So then I like Train enough to have all their CD's and also Pat's solo release (just sounds like Train) but truthfully without the aid of my random selector if I was looking for a Train CD to play I would have picked Drops Of Jupiter or the recent release Save Me, San Francisco which includes the infectious Hey Soul Sister so straight away the new system has forced me a road I may not have travelled, so what did I think?

I'm on my second play and have to say I'm really enjoying it, it's no different from any other Train CD, songs about love lost, love, or trying to find love, delivered with a West Coast smile and a ray of optimism that makes you want to smile. Song titles like All I Ever Wanted, If I Can't Change Your Mind, and Am I Reaching You Now, give you an idea of where the CD's sentiments lie. The lyrics are sometimes basic and childish but they are delivered in such a way that you want to punch the air sing along and in my case find a beautiful woman in the street and give her a bunch of flowers, (yes I'm that twee sometimes) I'm sure if I lived in California I would be doing it all the time!

Last night when I listened to the CD I thought to myself if Train brought out a Best of Cd how many of these tracks would make it onto the CD and my thoughts were 2 or 3 max. I still think this is the case but as last night I thought the choice was easy this morning the choice seems a lot harder. All I Ever Wanted is a killer track and a perfect lead off track and single, but tracks like Cab and Always Remember have really grown on me.

If you like bands the Goo Goo Dolls and fancy a change, or just want to be transported to the West Coast of America for 50 minutes then Train will be worth checking out.

I have really enjoyed listening to this album and sure I will revisit it sooner rather than later and it's inspired me to set up a Train Playlist for my i-Pod.

Mark 6.5/10

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