Train_-_Bulletproof_Picasso_(Artwork)I don’t normally review albums but figured “what the heck?”  I just listened to Train’s latest album, Bulletproof Picasso and felt moved to share.

So you know where I am coming from, let me say I am a big Train fan.   Don’t believe me?  I have tracked my listening for years using Last.fm and here are a few tidbits related to Train:

Okay, now that I have verified I am a true Train fan, on with the album review.  In a word the album was “meh.”  Okay, that’s not a real word but you get the idea.  Normally, when I have a new album, I will listen to the entire thing once through and one or two songs will jump out as the ones that I think should be the singles released.  Then after I listen about five or six times, I find a hidden gem or two that is much better once you take the time to listen to them.

For some reason, I didn’t get any of that from this album.  The track Train released as the first single, Angel in Blue Jeans sounds just like Mermaid off California 37 (which I loved thoroughly.)  I am sure it will get played to death on the radio and eventually will grow on me – like Hey, Soul Sister did back in 2010.  (I really disliked that song when it came out and after hearing it every fifth song for months on the radio, it became a fun little diddy.)

So does this mean Bulletproof Picasso is going to be major suckage?  Who know?  I have only listened to it twice through and nothing has grown on me.

Rather, the song, “Give It All” actually pisses me off.  It is an apologetic mixture of guilt over success and some sort of love song…  it feels manipulative.  I can already see the video – it will show homeless people and single mothers and wane from those tugged heart-strings to a wistful remembrance of a former love interest.  Again, it just feels staged.

Check back with me in about six months after three songs have been played ad nauseam and I’ll probably be singing along with everyone else.

by Chris Doelle