Tonic: Sugar : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

A couple of years ago, Tonic had trouble distinguishing themselves amid a slew of guitar-led pop groups with earnest frontmen, touches of post-grunge grit and albums' worth of power ballads. But then these four guys whose faces you couldn't pick out of a crowd managed to have a huge hit with "If You Could Only See," a track that got more airplay than any other rock song in 1997. Now a trio, they're on their way toward doing it again with "You Wanted More," the lead single off Sugar (originally from the American Pie soundtrack). Tonic's second album is the most consistently catchy set of modern-rock ditties since the Goo Goo Dolls' Dizzy Up the Girl, traversing all the emotional peaks and valleys that make this kind of music as embarrassingly and irresistibly gut wrenching as an episode of Party of Five. But it's killer pop melodies and revved-up guitar parts that will ultimately set Tonic apart - even if you don't remember what they look like. (RS 833)

JENNY ELISCU