By If anyone ever heard any of Train’s boring pop rock albums, they’ll probably be bored out of their minds with Green River Ordinance.
Sadly, Green River Ordinance is another one of those Goo Goo Dolls clones. Honestly, the kids don’t need another band with pretty boys who keep playing almost the same corny romance song over and over. These days all the kids listen to eclectic indie bands such as Modest Mouse or The Shins.
Unfortunately, GRO is not an indie band. Their new album, “Out of My Hands,” is absolutely monotonous.
There’s nothing duller than hearing frontman Josh Jenkins sing “It’s out of my hands/Breaking your heart/Letting you go/And it’s my fault.” Ladies may cry and weep when they hear these lyrics playing with the “lovely” loud guitar chords, but everyone’s undoubtedly heard these petty lyrics of teen love 20 million times before.
Even more boring is the dull song “On Your Own,” with tame guitar strumming and the super-dramatic synthesizer sounds in the background. Jenkins sings “The phone don’t ring and the tears they fall/But ya’ carry on and on and on,” but it’s idiotic to sing romantically about carrying “on and on and on” in this dark time of recession.
Thankfully, they at least turn up the heat a little bit with more hip-hop beats and rhythmic guitar strums in “Different (Anything at All).” They sound like a Gin Blossoms revival band. Even though they still sound boring, Joshua Wilkerson and Jamey Ice rip some cool guitar solos in the song.
The heat turns cold when Jenkins plays the typical sentimental song “Learning,” with soft acoustic guitars. The lyrics pretty much show how so excessively attached he is to girls.
People don’t need sentimental music in this period of economic recession. They want music that really speaks to them about issues that matter. Unfortunately, the songs of Green River Ordinance don’t speak to anyone except super-emotional romantics with separation anxiety. The guitars sound redundant and the acoustic guitars are too excessively soft and sentimental for a rock album. And lyrics aren’t even that good. Rock fans should definitely steer clear of this Texas band.
Psh, you gotta be a real loser to believe GRO is a bad band. Who would write crap like this?! Goo Goo Dolls, my foot. That is absolutely stupid. GRO has talent, passion, and voice. They are awesome…
Wow! I didn’t think anyone would read this!
With all that said though, this band didn’t especially impress me. At the time I wrote this, I had reviewed the Goo Goo Dolls’ greatest hits volume two. After nearly one hour of soft pianos, loud guitars and similar sounding pop vocals and lyrics, I’d heard enough.
I’m certain that their live performance is probably better, so don’t take this album review too personally. Many bands have a tough time making a splash into the general public with major label releases, but GRO have found a niche. Unfortunately, it’s a niche of music that I don’t usually like listening to.
They are a great band with Amazing lyrics.
GRO is amazing. If they are capable of writing a song that “makes teenage girls cry” thats pretty beast. They sound NOTHING like the goo goo dolls. I will admit i wasnt a little disappointed when I saw them live. I didnt realize some of the notes they reach on the album were done by pitch shifts. None the less, they are pretty awesome.
Green River Ordinance is a wonderful band full of heart, passion and talent. Their lyrics are incredible and these five guys are absolutely amazing!
GRO does suck get over it! They are possibly the worst band of all time! They need to get some real jobs! Music is not for them……
if you actually paid attention to the lyrics, you would understand that they talk about much more than just girls – Im not surprised that you forgot to mention their most popular hit ‘Outside’ which has nothing to do with girls. Im an adamant GRO fan and ive known about them for 3 years, way before they got a contract. So if youre going to insult a band about being too “clingy to girls” look at all the songs instead of picking out a couple that sound like they could be talking about girls. And btw, they chose the name ‘Out of my Hands’ as the title of their album b/c they are trusting in God to do whatever He wants with it, its “out of their hands”
This is a terrible review. GRO is a great band – all you have to do is download their album on iTunes and you’ll see!