"New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"

So way back in my freshman year of college, this band called the New Radicals came out with an album. I remember the first time I heard them--I was in the basement lounge of King Dorm, watching MTV of all things with several friends. The video for "You Get What You Give" came on, and I was enthralled. These guys sounded like the lovechild of the Rolling Stones and ELO. I went out and bought the CD that very week. It was one of the first CDs I bought for myself (throughout high school, it was always easier to wait for a birthday or Christmas to get new music). Anyway, I loved about half the songs on the album, but over the course of the next couple of years, I got into other stuff that I liked a lot more (like Dylan), and the New Radicals CD languished in the CD tower, unlistened-to, for a couple of years before I finally sold it to CD Warehouse.

Anyway, I ended up downloading a couple of the songs from the album onto my computer, and occasionally listened to those when the mood gripped me. At times, I'd get the urge to hear songs from the CD I couldn't find, but I resisted the urge to go buy the CD again.

Well, 'round about May or so, I finally gave in to temptation and picked up the New Radicals' Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too again. And let me tell you, I'm not disappointed in the CD, and I appreciate it a lot more than I did the first time around.

Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too is one of the best pure pop-rock albums of the late '90s. That may sound like hyperbole, but it's true. The musicianship is tight, well-crafted, and clever, and the lyrics are by turns dark, playful, sexual, and downright bubbly.

The album starts off with the one-two punch of "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" and "You Get What You Give," two anthematic rockers with sing-along choruses. The former is a wonderful little rave-up opener, while the latter is so bouncy and energetic that you might just miss the deep philosophical underpinnings of the lyrics. "Someday We'll Know" is a heart-wrenching tune with achingly beautiful lyrics and a wonderful vocal delivery. The title track is a murky, hypnotic, stream-of-consciousness rant about...well, I'm not really sure what it's about. The lyrics printed in the liner notes are not the same as the muffled, muttered words in the song unless they've been turned sideways and run through the song that way. From there, the album runs off a string of excellent tunes--"In Need of a Miracle," a sexually-charged love song; "Gotta Stay High," a tune about running away; "Technicolor Lover," a humorous and lusty song with a wonderful faux-horn break; "Flowers," a subtle yet high-energy song about heartbreak; and "Crying Like a Church on Sunday," a song with a metaphor that works surprisingly well for heartache, lose, and loneliness.

Ultimately, the New Radicals gave us a uniformly excellent album which blends the best of the Rolling Stones sexual energy and soul music fascination with the pop craft of ELO. Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too would make a wonderful addition to any music fan's collection.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: New Radicals, "Someday We'll Know"