After a three year gap from their 2006 album, "For Me, It's You," the hit pop/rock band Train released their new "Save Me San Francisco."
Train, best known for their hit song "Drops of Jupiter," originated in San Francisco, California. The first song and title of the album, "Save Me San Francisco" is filled with references to the "city by the bay" and the album even contains a bonus track titled "Half Moon Bay," which is named after and written about a small town below San Francisco.
In the same way that Train is getting in touch with their Californian roots the overall sound of the album is more of a return to their earlier work, in the sense that it is marked by a distinctive musicality, clever lyrics, and a variety of up-beat and meaningful songs. However, the album is filled with new surprises to keep things interesting.
Although Train definitely stays true to their own style of music in this new album, listeners will hear the band testing out some new sounds on the new album.
The single "Hey Soul Sister," definitely has a more contemporary, mainstream vibe than the other songs on the album, but is still an overall enjoyable song that flows well with the other tracks.
"Hey Soul Sister" is influenced more by today's modern trends in music, and is more comparable to the laid-back, acoustic music of newer artists such as Jason Mraz, whereas the track "I Got You" directly incorporates the older music vibes of 70s pop music, like the The Doobie Brother's song "Black Water."
This integration of current music trends and experimentation with 1970's rock-funk styles with Train's own individual sound is what makes "Save Me San Francisco" such a strong and interesting new album.
Train blends different styles and moods together on the album, which largely revolves around the idea of love, but tackles the subject from a number of different angles.
By mixing up the styles of the songs, Train is able to convey emotion effectively without falling into the trap of becoming melodramatic and overly sentimental, as other bands have done. On the album, the band makes smooth transitions between up-beat tracks like, "If It's Love," into ballads that utilize the strong vocals of lead singer Pat Monahan in "This Ain't Goodbye," and softer, gentler numbers like "Marry Me."
The album has all the right elements to launch Train back into the mainstream music scene. "Save Me San Francisco" is a strong album, and definitely worth buying.
Emily Lake can be reached at emily.lake@student.shu.edu.
