Goo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up The Girl CD

Includes 2 Exclusive Bonus Tracks 'Name' & 'Slave Girl'.

Goo Goo Dolls: Johnny Rzeznik (vocals, guitar); Robbie Takac (vocals, bass); Mike Malinin (drums).
Additional personnel: Tim Pierce (guitar, mandolin); Tommy Keene (guitar); Jamie Muhoberac, Benmont Tench (keyboards); Luis Conte (percussion); Nathan December, Rob Cavallo.
"Iris" was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. "Black Balloon" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
Personnel: Johnny Rzeznik (vocals, guitar); Robby Takac (vocals); Jamie Muhoberac (piano, keyboards); Mike Malinin (drums); Carmen Rizzo (programming).
Photographer: Melanie Nissen.
"Name" changed the game for the Goo Goo Dolls. Prior to that unexpected hit ballad, the Buffalo trio was pretty much content to turn out amiably sloppy rock & roll in the style of the Replacements. Like the latter-day 'Mats, they weren't adverse to cleaning up their sound a little bit, but once they had a hit, they were happy to jump headfirst into the mainstream, cleaning up their rockers until they shone and embracing acoustic power ballads instead of shunning them. In fact, "Iris" -- their contribution to the City of Angels soundtrack and lead single for their sixth album, Dizzy Up the Girl -- is a virtual rewrite of "Name." The funny thing is, where most college rock bands of the Bush era sounded awkward as mainstream rockers, the Goo Goo Dolls actually sound better as a mainstream band, partially because they were hardly underground in the first place. Like a less mannered and conflicted Let Your Dim Light Shine-era Soul Asylum, the trio balances hard rockers with ballads. The difference is, they enjoy the mainstreaming of their music and respond with one of their catchiest sets of songs. There's nothing new on the record apart from their willingness to polish their music so it reaches the widest audience. That will alienate whatever hardcore followers they have left, but that attitude will likely please anyone brought aboard with "Name" and "Iris." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
On first hearing, the Goo Goo Dolls sound like the Replacements' distant cousins, full of trashy rock bravado tempered by intelligent, often tender lyricism and a penchant for combining ringing acoustic guitars with dirtier sounds for a rich sonic stew. In fact, DIZZY UP THE GIRL finds the Dolls moving further away from the Replacements sound than ever before, with a definite '90s influence to the proceedings. The group's main link to the Replacements (and to Paul Westerberg's main influence, Alex Chilton) is the man-child dichotomy played out over the course of the album. The youthful, energetic spirit that makes DIZZY UP THE GIRL an exciting bit of rock & roll is matched at every step by a world-weariness that gives the jangly alt-rock tunes an air of maturity.

Rolling Stone (10/15/98, p.131) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...the Dolls traffic in raspy-voiced, guitar-fueled rave-ups with a sentimental streak....Nothing like a few hints of vinegar to make the gooey ballads go down."
Spin (12/98, p.182) - 6 (out of 10) - "...Having watched their evil stepsisters, the Replacements, try and fail to fit their eccentricities into the square hole of success, the Dolls prove more amenable: DIZZY UP THE GIRL is a marketing department's dream, this year's Soul Asylum with the edges filed off its power pop and metalloid stomp..."