In a Perfect World… Even its artwork is boring

LPs round-up: Kodaline, CSS, Goo Goo Dolls, Barenaked Ladies

Published on June 24th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams

There have been some fantastic albums coming out of late. Here are four that resoundingly do not belong in that category…

Barenaked Ladies – Grinning Streak

Remember “One Week”? Yes you do. Well, folks, they never went away; this is the Ontario group’s eleventh album, although who precisely needs eleven album’s worth of super-polished AOR pop/rock in their lives is something Rocksucker cannot answer.

Grinning Streak is not without its intelligence and moments of charm, but ultimately it’s so slick it might bring you out in a rash. “Odds Are” is particularly offensive in this regard, so if you happen to be considering going anywhere near this then you might want to have a listen before proceeding with caution:

Euch…it’s enough to undo any goodwill Barenaked Ladies might have garnered for that one hit they had about the one week that one time. You know the one.

You could imagine the characters in Friends really ‘digging’ this, even saving a special place for it on their CD rack next to their Matchbox Twenty and Hootie & the Blowfish albums. Glean from that what you will.

Grinning Streak is out now on Raisin’ Records.

You can buy Grinning Streak on iTunes and on Amazon.

Rocksucker says: Two Quails out of Five!

CSS – Planta

…on which CSS finalise their transition from irreverence into plain old irrelevance. Points of interest are few and far between, and when they do emerge they are invariably accompanied by gripes: if “Sweet” was a genre, it would be ‘non-dubstep’, while “Too Hot” sounds like Sporty Spice trying to do Björk, as it were.

There’s also this one, about a hangover. Why had no one ever thought to write a pop song about a hangover before? Subversive genius, when you think about it:

“Teenage Tiger Cat” belatedly alleviates the tedium but only barely, and it still manages to outstay its welcome. There’s too thin a spread of good ideas across this chart-humping parade of Brazilian Eurotrash, although we’re informed that CSS’s first album is “pretty good, actually”. Maybe check that one out instead.

Planta is out now on SQE Music.

You can buy Planta on iTunes or on Amazon.

Rocksucker says: One and a Half Quails out of Five!

Goo Goo Dolls – Magnetic

Remember “Iris”? Of course you do.

Like Barenaked Ladies, it turns out that Goo Goo Dolls have also been releasing a steady stream of albums since their, er, ‘heyday’. Unfortunately, time and experience have done them few favours: Rocksucker had to turn Magnetic off before the opening track “Rebel Beat” was even out, so embarrassing it is that Rocksucker feared the neighbours hearing us listen to it.

It’s actually worth checking out just how stunningly douchey “Rebel Beat” is, but you might want to take a moment or two to compose yourself before plunging yourself into its depths…

Yikes.

The rest of the album could be superb for all we know, but in our book there’s absolutely no coming back from a song as dire as “Rebel Beat”. Sorry. Sad face.

Magnetic is out now on .

You can buy Magnetic on iTunes or on Amazon.

Rocksucker says: Have a Dead Quail!

Kodaline – In a Perfect World

…this album wouldn’t exist. Ker-tish! Thanks for that one, @_Pengwinning

Seriously, though, there’s nothing we could tell you about this album that you couldn’t glean from the song titles themselves: “One Day”, “All I Want”, “Love Like This”, “Brand New Day”, “High Hopes”, blah blah ****ing blah. Yes, it’s true: Kodaline are the world’s dullest band.

Closing track “Lose Your Mind” throws in just a smidgen – the minutest iota – of psychedelia, making it sound like sodding Pet Sounds compared to what goes before it. It’s way too little, much too late.

There’s little point listening to it so sod the embedded video.

In a Perfect World is out now on Sony.

You can buy In a Perfect World on iTunes or on Amazon.

Rocksucker says: Half a Quail out of Five!

Artists: barenaked ladies, css, goo goo dolls, kodaline

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About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.