Train: For Me, It's You : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Four years after the gorgeous "drops of Jupiter" achieved radio omnipresence, it's still hard to say what the hell Train's greatest hit was actually about. What makes For Me, It's You Train's strongest set of tracks to date is that the songs here sound more than just professional -- they sound surprisingly lived-in and earthy. Too often in the past the band has gotten by on the strength of frontman Pat Monahan's stunning vocals. For Me, It's You finds Train -- now joined by Johnny Colt on bass and Brandon Bush on keyboards -- sounding re-energized on a more straight-ahead, personal-sounding group of songs, from the wonderfully yearning opener, "All I Ever Wanted," to the sexy and soulful closing title track, with Monahan delivering a nice Memphis-fried vocal. Other highlights include "Cab," a wintry and moving vehicular metaphor, and the unlikely, slightly E Streety cover of Sugar's brilliant 1992 power-pop number "If I Can't Change Your Mind." Between his recent work with Bruce Springsteen, the Wallflowers and Train, producer Brendan O'Brien seems to be fighting the good fight to help keep the classic in classic rock, and he serves the songs well here.