[.ca] Thorns

From Amazon.com:
If ever a group's moniker were wrapped in florid irony, surely it's this bright, buoyant summit meeting of contemporary popmeisters Matthew Sweet, Shawn Mullins, and Pete Droge. Backed by an all-star studio ensemble that includes Jim Keltner, Greg Leisz, Brendan O'Brien, and Roy Bittan, the three nominally insulated musicians don't so much claim the legacy of Crosby, Stills & Nash on the harmonic riches of "Think it Over" and glorious "Now I Know" (equally hard to imagine the baby-boom icons wrapping themselves around the chunky funk of the title track here or the pointed impressionistic allegory of "Dragonfly") as find a musical common ground that can't help but echo history in its folk-rooted vocal glories, yet forges a higher, ego-sublimating higher ground that's anything but nostalgic. Fans of the three musicians may recognize their various sensibilities at work throughout, but it's a rewarding collaboration that virtually defies deconstruction. Don't be misled by the name--this is a beautiful, musically fragrant bouquet. --Jerry McCulley

Worth another listen!:
I have been a long time Matthew Sweet fan, his CD Girlfriend is one of my all time favorites, so when I saw The Thorns CD at Best Buy for $9.99, I said "why not?" and picked it up. The initial listen revealed pleasant and harmonic songs, not easy listening, per se, but easy enough to pop in to the car stereo and go for a drive and not feel the need to turn the music down to talk to people. It was pleasant and I want to say unobtrusive, which is not a bad thing at all. I put the cd away for a while and recently returned to it, and I swear it's like an entirely new CD, the songs I was comofrtable listening to before have now taken on depth and weight, and really to prove to be great music. After initially listening to them, and then not listening to them for a few months, I can't forgive that lapse! If you are a fan of any of these guys, or looking for the latter day Crosby Stills & Nash, give the Thorns a try, you won't be disappointed!

well done:
good album; songs are poetry and performed well; well worth the twelve bucks to buy the album; personal favorite song: i set the world on fire

This album makes me want to hurt innocent people:
This is one dull disc. I'm a fan of mellow music, but hearing these three guys all singing at the same time on every song made me instantly think of CSN & Y, a band I strongly dislike. I expected a lot more from these guys. This one's a turd.

On the cheap:
There's a prophetic line at the start of the second track, "I Can't Remember": "I'm not gonna lie to you, something is missing." Despite the fact that it boasts the work of three moderately successful solo artists, including Pete Droge, Shawn Mullins, and Matthew Sweet (whose other work I really enjoy--check out In Reverse), The Thorns comes up short. Instead of any driving rhythms or compelling lyrics, the thirteen songs here consist mostly of three-part harmony and lyrics that sound like they were sanitized during the process of three songwriters tweaking them. The results are bland and inoffensive, certainly not as good as fans had every right to expect from these three. There's a reason people are selling used copies on the cheap.

2-1/2 stars -- The point of this album is...?:
For some reason or another, Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins decided to form the supergroup known as The Thorns. Maybe they realized how many people have been buying their respective solo albums lately? But I'm not sure many people have this album either, and it isn't hard to understand why. The main problem with this album is that it doesn't really give either member a chance to shine on his own. All three of them are pretty much singing in unison throughout the whole album, and it's usually at the same tone. Also, almost every song ends the same way AND are the same length (except for maybe "Among the Living"), making them sound like carbon copies of each other. Because of all this, it's hard to enjoy otherwise decent songs like "I Can't Remember" or "Now I Know". But the title track, self-titled song, whatever ("Thorns"), is ridiculous and should have stayed in the studio. This album is okay to play in the background, but that's about it. Anthony Rupert

• Runaway Feeling - The Thorns
• I Can't Remember - The Thorns
• Blue - The Thorns
• Think It Over - The Thorns
• Thorns - Jefferson Airplane, , The Thorns
• No Blue Sky - The Thorns
• Now I Know - Jefferson Airplane, , The Thorns
• Dragonfly - The Thorns
• Long, Sweet Summer Night - The Thorns
• I Told You - Jefferson Airplane, , The Thorns
• Such a Shame - The Thorns
• I Set the World on Fire - The Thorns
• Among the Living - Jefferson Airplane, , The Thorns