Tonic - Head On Straight

Ooh, looky! An album that sounds the same all the way through! Background noise for a franchise loop tape! Sugary pomp-rock devoid of any hint of meaning or context outside of comfort food! Great! Great. So... I guess this got off to a sarcastic-enough start, eh? I tried, good Deity of Music, I really did. I tried to be a good girl and listen many times and unearth the diamonds that were buried within this Top 40, post-grunge boom, post-Pixies quiet/loud dynamic album of pure, unadulterated, "Lite Listening!" When the singer attacked me with "Do you know how it feels to be angry?/ Do you know how it feels to be hurt?" ("Do You Know") I wanted to answer him, 12 tone, with a letter of quiet dignity of pain, anguish, and angst that I have been inundated with in more sincere ways by other bands. When the singer (backed by a riff that sounded REALLY familiar...) begged me to feel the pain of his never knowing his father and having a crap homelife ("Take Me As I Am") then decided to remind me that he wasn't marred by this situation, rather wanted me to help him "find love again." I assumed dude hasn't gotten his life-owed apologies yet, and wondered if I personally apologized for the sins of the world if he'd quit making albums. I then decided that I need not apologize for anything; He should apologize to me for making such a Soundgarden rip-off morass of evil that was track 8 of Head on Straight, aka "Come Rest Your Head." Come on. Let's see some ingenuity. Let's see something besides early-90's stuff in the 21st century. Let's give nice reviewer Erun something to get excited about other than the fact that she has yet another mediocre CD to collect dust in her room. This is pitiful! Every song sounded the same. Every lyric was whiny or defiantly whiny (whichever's worse). What was the name of that hit that Tonic had? At this rate, I think it's going to be their only one. [www.tonic-online.com]