Audio CD review:
Better Than Ezra - Before the Robots

Better Than Ezra - Before the Robots

Band: Better Than Ezra Title: Before the Robots Rating: Release Date: 31 May, 2005 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Burned 2: Daylight 3: Lifetime 4: It's Only Natural 5: Overcome 6: Special 7: American Dream 8: Our Last Night 9: A Southern Thing 10: Juicy 11: Hollow 12: Our Finest Year 13: Breathless

Editoral Review With the release of Before the Robots, though, comes the need to reshuffle the played-out deck. As of May 2005, it's been 10 years since Better than Ezra bounded up the charts with the unsinkable hit "Good," which is just about long enough for modern rock fans--especially the ones who picked up 2001's crummy Closer--to mentally file the band in a "moment has passed" category. The first single, a re-done "Lifetime," effectively rescues a really good story-song from potential oblivion by sending in an un-soupy acoustic guitar and Kevin Griffin's more inspired vocal; "A Southern Thang" tips a straw hat to the Louisiana swamps the band emerged from with a rip-it-up riff; and the aptly titled "Juicy" chugs along a funkified track that veers daringly close to disco. For a threesome on the brink of been-there-done-that, Before the Robots represents a bold but pleasingly poppy rebound. --Tammy La Gorce .. You can see a complete list of all Better Than Ezra discography, or go back to the Better Than Ezra tabs