I'm Mildly Surprised

Musical supergroups, bands made up from members of several other bands, are always a mixed bag. Some are good, like Audioslave, which combined a talented singer/songwriter best not left to his own devices with the rhythm section of Rage Against the Machine. Some are bad, like Mad Season, which combined the least talented members of their respective grunge bands. Supergroups have always been more of a "corporate rock" thing anyway, because, honestly, who but a record company executive was longing to hear a mashup of King Crimson, Yes, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer?

And today brings the release of an album by yet another supergroup that I'm sure was focus-grouped into existence. That band is Tinted Windows, and, since I'll listen to anything once, I gave their new self-titled record a listen. And, truthfully, it's not bad; it's something I'd listen to more than once.

It's pop-rock at its most saccharine. But of course it is: it's fronted by an all-growns-up Taylor Hansen, and all the songs were written by the guy who wrote "Stacy's Mom" and "That Thing You Do." It sound like an album that Cheap Trick never made, which isn't surprising, as the drummer is Bun E. Carlos, who's been behind the kit for Cheap Trick for almost 40 years.

The real wild card in the group is James Iha, in his first gig since not being invited back to the Smashing Pumpkins' reunion. This seems a little out of his musical realm, but, a job is a job, I guess. (His uninspired playing here makes me wonder if there isn't some validity to the rumor that Billy Corgan played all the guitar parts on the Smashing Pumpkins' albums by himself.)

If you're looking for some mindless diversion to listen to, you could do worse. You might even enjoy it.