Third Eye Blind Blue CD

Third Eye Blind has enough vision to swerve clear of the sophomore jinx. While you won't find a "Semi-Charmed" on BLUE, there is enough thoughtful, well-crafted pop to keep the band in the grace of its fans. The album opens with the short, blistering "Anything," a track that cuts out just as the song's hook pulls you in. The radio-friendly "Never Let You Go" bears an unshakable chorus. "Deep Inside of You" shows 3EB to be developing further as accomplished power balladeers. A poetic stream of consciousness takes shape in "An Ode to Maybe." "The Red Summer Sun," which begins as an atmospheric and mid-tempo piece, goes off on a strange tangent that finds vocalist Stephan Jenkins doing his best Axl Rose impression, and then returns to a trippy outro that reprises as a hidden track at the end of "Darwin."

BLUE is a largely introspective affair, especially in tracks like "Darkness," where Jenkins sings, "And the world darkens around me / strange friends surround me." That perspective is the key that makes Third Eye Blind's songs hit home emotionally. The diversity and risks the band takes on BLUE will surely help the group avoid any one-hit-wonder labelings.

Of all the second-wave post-grunge bands from 1997, Third Eye Blind cultivated the most dedicated fan base. Sure, Matchbox 20 sold more records, but for TEB devotees, the San Franciscan band carried the torch originally lit by such breakthrough alt-rock acts as U2 and INXS -- big, glossy bands that unabashedly celebrated both hooks and rock classicism. Under the direction of Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind celebrated these same virtues, but since they arrived at a time when there were a lot of glossy, even slick, bands marketed as alternative rock, it's easy to see why many observers believed TEB were no different than the legions of post-grunge rockers who dominated the charts that year. By the 1999 release of Blue, the group's second album, many of their peers from 1997 had faded away. Jenkins must have been aware of the fleeting nature of fandom in the '90s, since he pushes his band hard throughout the album. It's as if he's trying to shake the ghost of "Semi-Charmed Life," the ingratiatingly hummable hit that gave TEB success but pegged them, in many observers' eyes, as a bubblegum one-hit wonder. Blue is certainly somber and serious, even with its moment

Recorded at The Mud Room and Toast Studios, San Francisco, California; The Plant, Sausalito, California.

Producers: Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind, The Mud Sisters, Arion Salazar.

Personnel: Arion Salazar (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano, Wurlitzer organ, Theremin); Kevin Cadogan (vocals, guitar, electric sitar, piano); Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Brad Hargreaves (vocals, piano, drums); Chris Manning, Teal Collins, Caitlin Cornwell, Mauri Skinfill, Golden Gate Boys Choir, Ledisi (vocals); D.J. Chutney (tamboura); Marika Hughes, Carla Kihlstedt (strings); Ben Kramer (trumpet); Marc Capelle (piano, Clavinet); Steve Cohen (piano); Ren Klyce (keyboards); Jacquire King (programming).

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