Get Off Your Knees

"Bow down to Hanson. They'll be here a lot longer than most."

-- Rob Thomas

I am not sure if that is an actual quote, but I suppose it doesn't really matter.

So for those of you who don't track the lives of the Hanson brothers with baited breath, let me inform you that they have a new CD coming out in May (I believe). When I first heard about this (via my sister, who has taken over my family role of slightly-obsessed Hanson stalker) I admit I was pretty excited. Hanson is to me like my favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's; I might not eat it for a very long time, but every once in a while I just have to have my flavor. And I eat the whole pint. And then I have to go buy more. And then I gain ten pounds. And I have to completely ban it from my life for a while until sanity returns. No matter how much I try to cut the ice cream out of my diet once and for all, I need to have it; it just tastes so damn good sometimes. Moving on.

I have heard two of the songs on the new record and read one review of the album (which is already out in Japan). One of the songs is decent, the other just plain dull and... well, shitty. The review was not bad, but it did say that most of the tracks lacked energy and were boring (wait, maybe it was a bad review).

This does not give me, even the most loyal of fans, much hope.

The thing I've come to realize is that when Hanson was working on their album Underneath they wrote literally hundreds of songs that never made the record. And while shamefully watching a documentary on the making of their record, I've come to realize that their most amazing songs were left off the record. A lot of their song decisions had to do with their record company veto-ing just about everything they wrote, so I had high hopes that they would come out with an amazing record this time around, especially since they are no longer sharing/losing creative control of their record.

Unfortunately it seems the opposite has happened and their music has gone from inspired to... well, uninspired. Without the push to please their label, they've lost all incentive to write good music. Or at least that is what I can tell from what I've heard from the two songs on their new record and that one review.

Going back to the quote at the beginning, I agree and disagree... Hanson will be around for a long time. They have drive, that's undeniable. However, I'm not sure their staying power will be a good thing. If this next record doesn't shine, I certainly won't be bowing down to anyone.

Now, this new brand of Hanson music might be like a new ice cream flavor that actually is my favorite only I had never tried it because it wasn't available... until now. Hmm. Right now I feel more like eating cake than ice cream. Sorry, guys.

(PS - I've also heard that Zac has taken over most of the lead vocals. This is, in my opinion, a very bad move for as we all know there's only one singer in the world worse at singing than Isaac, and that would have to be Zac. Might I point out the train wreck that was his last attempt at leads? Yikes. His voice just wasn't the same after puberty.)