“Blind Melon’s new album comprises the band’s first new songs since the death of former lead singer Shannon Hoon in 1995. With new singer Travis Warren onboard, the group has tried to recapture the magic that made it a pop/rock darling in the early ’90s. The effort is not a failure by any means, but while the rest of the band remains intact, “For My Friends” doesn’t sound much like the Blind Melon Hoon left 13 years ago. Warren, though, is a very capable replacement; he sings in an upper register that fits well with the group’s jammy country-rock sound, and occasionally sounds eerily like Hoon. And at times, it all clicks, like on “Sometimes,” a funky, organ-driven rocker. But there’s nothing here that quite approaches the peaks of first-era Blind Melon. —Troy Carpenter”
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