Blues Traveler moves melodically towards the middle

After twenty years and twelve albums -- eight studio, four live -- the poppy blues-rock jam-band best remembered for their long-lived radio single "Run-Around" sought to bring the spontaneity of their stage playing into the recording studio. Forsaking their usual pre-production regimen of scripted arrangements, their latest songs were fleshed out as a group in the studio, hoping to capture the inspirational moments of the creative process, rather than a practiced reproduction. Whether they were successful is hard to say, as the telepathic musical connections born of years on the road has resulted in an album that's still highly detailed, tight and surprisingly smooth.

The band turns the guitars and drums up for a few tracks, but much of this album is rendered in a more subdued style, verging on adult contemporary pop. John Popper's distinctive vocals still provide plenty of emotional power, but it's the melodies of the mid-tempo numbers, and the catchy touches of keyboard and synthesizer that linger. The opening ode to American troops, inspired by Popper's USO visits, starts with a burbling synthesizer and gliding acoustic guitars before warming to a more emphatic chorus. A similar climb is found on "Borrowed Time," opening as a soulful piano ballad before forceful bass notes ratchet up the emotion. The shuffle of "You, Me and Everything" harkens back to "Run-Around," but with a synthesizer figure that evokes the lyrics' open road, and the light funk overtones continue with the wah-wah guitar of "Love Does," and the picturesque "Orange in the Sun."

The band adds a touch of Stax-styled horns and piano on "What Remains," and attacks the blues on "The Beacons" and "How You Remember It." The album closes with the lengthy freeform rant "Free Willis, Ruminations From Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop," proving that Bruce Willis (the guest ranter) isn't Tom Waits. Still, "Return of Bruno" fans everywhere will rejoice. Blues Traveler fans on the other hand, those who've kept the band going for twenty years through album and ticket sales, may hope this album's move to the middle (and dearth of harmonica) is more of a diversion, like 2005's broadly experimental "Bastardos!," than a wholly new direction. That said, Popper's renewed focus on melody is a winning direction. [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]