It has been 13 years since the lead singer of Blind Melon died, nine years since the band officially broke up and two years since the financial success of compilations and tribute albums have brought the band back together.
The surviving members of Blind Melon recruited Travis Warren to resemble– read: replace– Shannon Hoon on vocals and he does a mediocre job, to say the least. Not to say the album is terrible. There are a couple of really good tracks– like “Sometimes,” a laid back, honest track and “Down on the Pharmacy,” a diverse song with conviction– but it sounds like the remaining members of Blind Melon are trying to recreate the chemistry and sound that they had with Hoon– as Warren aptly sings in “Harmful Belly,” “Why would you ever change?”– but it just doesn’t pan out. Granted, it was an interestingly brave choice to select a singer with a style that so closely reminds listeners of the tragic death of the previous lead singer.
If one were to take this album out of context and pretend that this band did not have the infamous bee girl on the cover of their debut album (yes, it is that band), it might be receiving more attention or better reviews. All of the tracks seem to evoke Hoon’s spirit, which seems much less relevant a decade later, and exposes the original members of Blind Melon as musicians who are unable to evolve.