Albums by this artist

The Verve Pipe (1999)

Villains (1996)

The Verve Pipe

The Verve Pipe

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

The Verve Pipe The Verve Pipe RCA, 1999 RiYL: Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Everclear, Collective Soul

They say timing is everything. And in the case of the Verve Pipe, good timing is just the kind of intangible that has allowed this once-promising band to extend its career beyond 1996's hit single "The Freshman."

The band's '96 debut album Villains slid just under the slamming door which would further bar any new rock music worth a damn from being released on a major label. Villains was a fine start -- But in retrospect, perhaps because it predated crapola like Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20 by a year or two, the record's appeal seems now like nothing more than a happy coincidence.

A few listens to The Verve Pipe, the three-years-in-the-making follow-up to Villains, might be enough to make one wonder why he or she liked ever the Verve Pipe in the first place. This listless, incredibly unoriginal record should come with a chamois to towel off all the schmaltz. Quite honestly, there's not one even remotely interesting song until some seven tracks in, when the adequate "Headlines" and the barely catchy hooks of "F Word" at least prick up the ears for a few seconds.

Lead singer Brian Vander Ark's incredulous sentimentality, which was somewhat held in check on Villains, flows like Natty Lite at a frat party on this album. Indeed, the first line of "F Word" provides a pretty good barometer for the whole disc: "I've got to get arrested / to keep you interested."

Anything would be more interesting than lame ballads like "In Between" and "She Has Faces." Even worse are the "aggressive" tracks, which tow the line between Matchbox 20 with distortion ("She Loves Everybody") and soul-less radio fodder like the Collective Soul-lite "Television" or "Hero" (leave the harmonies to the Doobie Brothers, guys).

I can't imagine anybody but the most hardened fan justifying a three-year wait for The Verve Pipe. The sad thing is, it'll probably go gold.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"