Tuned In: Goo Goo Dolls' 'Something' isn't something for everyone

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"SOMETHING FOR THE REST OF US," Goo Goo Dolls (Warner Bros.)

Girls are typically the ones who play with dolls, and perhaps it takes someone with that second X chromosome to understand the enduring appeal of the Goo Goo Dolls. There's no obvious reason for the band from Buffalo, N.Y., to still be knocking out releases more than 20 years after formation, no logical explanation for the millions of records sold, the Grammy nominations, the endless gigs, etc.

GGD's new "Something for the Rest of Us" offers no enlightenment. The band's three men, all in their mid-40s, are still acting like lovesick boys: Lead vocalist/guitarist John Rzeznik actually sings lines like "It's all because you take me as I am" on the enervating "As I Am" and "You're the only one I want" on a "Hey Ya" that unfortunately isn't a cover of the OutKast hit.

This release quickly drains away all positive expectations with the anonymous jangle in the would-be romanticism of "One Night," the crushing inanity of the distractingly dull title track (seems Rzeznik was rescued by love or something) and the timelessness and colorlessness of "Home."

The group's most insidious weapon isn't even the schlocky lyrics and predictable hooks, however. It's the numbing buzz of lifeless guitars that anesthetizes the brain so it can endure such blatant, artless formula.

Listeners might well go on a scavenger hunt for redeeming qualities. Perhaps they'll take solace in the quasi-apocalyptic break from structure of "Now I Hear" or the serviceable grace of the relationship-mending "Notbroken." Plus opener "Sweetest Lie" is, apt for the title, non-representative of the rest of the release as a blazing jolt of plaintive sound buoys Rzeznik's best lines, including: "You made me feel electric every moment that we shared/But the light went out when I realized you never even cared."

Rzeznik probably deserves similar apathy from the rest of us.

Rating (five possible): 2

"THE HEART," Jimmy Gnecco (Bright Antenna)

It's the kind of person we must all endure, the co-worker/friend/relative who is a time-bandit drama queen foisting upon us endless tales of ordeals from a hellish life as if his very existence depends on it. But we care, so we cope.

Jimmy Gnecco's solo debut, "The Heart," is the music version of this type, testing the limits of his audience's sympathy with tragedies that alternate from bewitching to off-putting, sucking in listeners, giving them slack to escape and then sucking them in again.

The front man for the band Ours concocts voodoo early on -- the all-important first hook -- singing in unearthly falsetto on an opening "Rest Your Soul" that flows seamlessly into the subsequent "Light on the Grave." The first track sets a weighty lyrical tone with lines such as "You know that all is lost, so now rest your soul"; however, his wordless wails have just as much impact.

Yet Gnecco only fitfully conjures magic, evidenced by third track "Mystery," where he indulges in lugubrious ache until he becomes ridiculously whiny. He sounds too earnest in his drive to create something important on "Gravity" ("Love is everywhere, but no one seems aware"), and "These Are My Hands" is an overwrought folk song. Then "The Heart" peters out with a spate of misfires, including the drudging "Darling," a "Patiently Waiting" that hinges on gratuitous agonized shouts and a morose "Talk to Me" that opens with an affectedly breathy "crushed again" and then goes downhill.

On the other hand, the New Jersey native captivates when he channels his torment on the title track, his urgent despair a match for the flickering rhythm. He also helps the meandering "Take a Chance" find focus and escalate in tension, and he effectively taps into his falsetto again, supported by acoustic guitar, on the lullabylike "I Heard Your Singing."

Gnecco plays all of the instruments, and the arrangements are subtle so as not to distract listeners as they work through the maze that is his pain. There's reward in getting to the end, but no one can be blamed for seeking an early exit.

Rating: 3

"LAYA PROJECT," various (White Swan)

It's a cliche that cynics can't get their heads around, but the human spirit is amazingly resilient.

That fact is exemplified by "Laya Project," a two-disc compilation of field music collected and enhanced by a team led by Patrick Sebag and Yotam Agam. The group ventured into the region devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami -- Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, the Maldives and Myanmar -- where more than 200,000 are estimated to have died. Sebag, Yotam, et al., recorded the folk music of "average" people from the area (who presumably didn't have much even before the disaster), and their poignant songs are uplifting.

The passionate vocals and instrumentation are tethered to (generally) discrete programming, strings and the like, but still preserved with respect to their indigenous nature. Tablas, flutes, Buddhist chants, keyboards and bass coexist peacefully with several forms of regional instruments, plentiful percussion and a rotating cast of lead vocalists.

Singer Shaheema brings preternatural soul to the traditional Maldives song "Farihi," and Shwe Shwe Khine and Khine Zin Shwe deliver eerily moving vocals to the lushly produced traditional Myanmar song "Glorious Sun" (also offered as "Glorious Sun Remix"). Other striking voices intertwine with arrangements that are either mysteriously hypnotic or energetically otherworldly.

Meanwhile, the synthetic Western flourishes are rarely out of bounds, instead providing droning cushions that add weight to the bare field samples.

Some of the more extended, meditative cuts are a bit draining, and the catch-all closer "Laya Mantra," clocking in at nearly 17 minutes, demands too much effort to follow it to a satisfying end. Yet overall, these indomitable singers and musicians are treated deferentially and prove themselves to be anything but ordinary.

Rating: 4

(E-mail Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at Campbell(at)knews.com.)

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