Album Review: Invisible Stars by Everclear

Back in Everclear's hit-making days, Art Alexakis's lyrics focused on parenthood, divorce, moving west to find normality: Unusually adult preoccupations for alt-rock. Now he's 50, with fresh backing musicians recently accumulated, but he still sounds stuck to the analyst's couch, explaining away failure and co-dependency. That's tolerable when songs stay short and fast; more often, meandering melodies make you wish he'd stop whining.Listen to 'Invisible Stars': Related• Photos: The Ten Hottest Summer Package Tours of 2012 .

Full Review >>

To say the six years between 2006's Welcome to the Drama Club and 2012's Invisible Stars were tough for Everclear is something of an understatement. Only one of the musicians who appeared on Drama Club remains -- that would be guitarist/singer Art Alexakis, who already was leading a rejiggered lineup in 2006 and now has a completely different crew on Invisible Stars. This is roughly the same group that appeared on Everclear's pair of 2011 releases of re-recorded hits for budget-line Cleopatra, a sure sign a group has skidded into a rough patch, and if they're not explicitly re-recording songs on Invisible Stars, they're certainly eager to evoke memories of the past by reworking hooks from "Everything to Everyone," "I Will Buy You a New Life," and "Wonderful.

Full Review >>

If you’re clicking on this review, there’s a good chance that you remember Everclear from their ‘90s heyday. They were a fixture on modern rock radio back then with hit singles like “Santa Monica (Watch the World Die)”, “Father of Mine”, “I Will Buy You a New Life”, and “Wonderful.” There’s also a better than even chance that you lost track of them sometime early in the ‘00s, like most of their audience. Singer-songwriter Art Alexakis has kept the Everclear name alive since then, even as the past decade has been a rough one for the band.

Full Review >>