The Goo Goo Dolls – Boxes (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

The Goo Goo Dolls – Boxes (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 42:03 minutes | 848 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Records

The album art for Boxes, the 11th album by the Goo Goo Dolls and the first since drummer Mike Malinin left the band, suggests a ceaseless expansion of cardboard portals into the universe — a heady metaphor for a record that finds the group boring into mundane earthly concerns. As part of this embrace of the present, the Goo Goo Dolls — now merely a duo of John Rzeznik and Robby Takac — unapologetically embrace their middle age, excising any remaining hints of the raucous rock band of yore and splitting their time between power ballads and insistent anthems. Hints of “Iris” and its aftermath are heard throughout but Rzeznik and Takac do pay attention to modern music, threading in portions of the gated hip-hop rhythms of Twenty One Pilots on occasion. Elsewhere, they have a tough time shaking remnants of the cavernous rallying calls of Mumford & Sons — it’s an affectation left over from 2013’s Magnetic and feels past its sell-by date here — but that only underscores how the Goo Goo Dolls have turned from energy and songs toward an enveloping mood. And, in that sense, the pseudo-new age art winds up fitting the album: this is a record that attempts to unfold but remains grounded within its own humble limitations. –AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:
01. The Goo Goo Dolls – Over and Over (04:07)
02. The Goo Goo Dolls – Souls in the Machine (03:49)
03. The Goo Goo Dolls – Flood (feat. Sydney Sierota) (04:12)
04. The Goo Goo Dolls – The Pin (04:12)
05. The Goo Goo Dolls – Boxes (04:22)
06. The Goo Goo Dolls – Free of Me (03:35)
07. The Goo Goo Dolls – Reverse (04:13)
08. The Goo Goo Dolls – Lucky One (03:05)
09. The Goo Goo Dolls – So Alive (03:15)
10. The Goo Goo Dolls – Prayer in My Pocket (03:34)
11. The Goo Goo Dolls – Long Way Home (03:34)

Personnel:
Mike Adubato, keyboards, piano
Craig MacIntyre, drums, percussion
Brad Fernquist, guitar
Gunnar Olsen, drums, guitar
Drew Pearson, keyboards
Shawn Pelton, drums
John Rzeznik, guitar, vocals
Robby Takac, bass, guitar, vocals
Gregg Wattenberg, guitar, background vocals
Derek A.E. Fuhrmann, guitar, piano, background vocals
Rachel Kanner, Kim Kat, Michael Lauri, Yazz Alali, John Alicastro, Jordan Miller, Mark Neisser, Kit Walters, background vocals
Katie Weissman, cello
Clare Fisher, Gretchen Fisher, strings, violin
Kiersten Fisher, viola

Download: