's second album, , takes a drastic turn away from the lo-fidelity, high-energy romp of his debut and steers a course for the middle of the classic rock road. has gone from presenting himself as a troubadour to a beardy, laid-back dad rocker who happily channels at every opportunity. True, there are still some sonic oddities and tricks sprinkled across the album, but for the most part any track from could be played back to back with any track by or and they would sound perfectly in tune. Instead of wired and energetic tunes and elfin vocals, the scene is laid-back and , and rather than drenching the songs in a cavernous echo that would turn everything into a poor man's Wall of Sound, there are smooth arrangements with Hammond organs and vocal harmonies that would make nod in agreement. It's not a bad record by any stretch; there are plenty of pleasant tunes and you have to credit for borrowing 's guitar tone and style rather than his vocal tics, like most of 's acolytes are prone to do. Still, the album fails to deliver anything close to the thrills and off-kilter delights of . In fact, the only song that even gives you a hint that it's the same guy behind both records is where the vocals are pleasurably high-pitched and the guitars have some buzz and solid-state bite as opposed to their usual state of woody richness. Listening back to , though, you can hear the seeds of 's transformation into a classic rocker. There were pianos, ballads, and strings, and a strong sense that he was a rock & roll traditionalist below the iffy fidelity. What he had, and has now mostly lost, was some spark of originality, some sense that the songs meant something and weren't just jams that would sound good as the summer day rolls past. It's not the worst thing imaginable to make a nice, pleasant record that wouldn't trouble anyone; it's just that (seemingly) promised more than just a peaceful easy feelin', and is an almost complete disappointment in that regard. ~ Tim Sendra