Adult Contemporary Classic Rock: Train, 'Save Me, San Francisco'

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TRAIN WOULD BE just another boring mainstream band crooning sunny love songs if it weren't for Pat Monahan's soaring voice. He could easily be fronting a classic rock tribute band, just based on his choice of cover songs (chief among them: Aerosmith's "Dream On," Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" and "Going to California" and The Doors' "Light My Fire").

With that power and prowess, it's no surprise that the best song on "Save Me, San Francisco" (Columbia) — Train's fifth album (and first after a three-year hiatus) — is "I Got You," which is a mash-up of an original tune and the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water." The two songs work together seamlessly — it's just a shame that Kid Rock already played the same trick with last summer's "All Summer Long."

Of course, Monahan is a better vocalist — and Train uses more interesting source material here than Kid's choice of "Sweet Home Alabama." The note-by-note rendition of the original that closes out the song (complete with the low, walking bass melody, "with you all night long") is fantastic and really shows off Monahan's flexibility.

The rest of "Save Me, San Francisco" is almost a bit of a letdown compared to that song.

It's not that it's bad; in fact, the album is exactly the kind of swaying, uptempo, feel-good adult contemporary that has made Train such a commercial success. It just feels like the band doesn't quite live up to the brawn and vigor that Monahan is so obviously capable of: this group could easily be performing edgy, aggressive rock songs, and it seems like a bit of a cop-out that they've opted for a mainstream, more universally-appealing sound instead.

The album's title track is a bouncy number that sounds like the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold," while "Parachute" finds Monahan at his soaring, dazzling best, even despite a particularly cheesy metaphor ("I'll open up and be your parachute / and I'll never let you down") at the center of the action. The album-closing "Marry Me" finds Monahan floating into an airy falsetto; his croon is all the more earnest against the simple instrumentation behind him.

The song with the most unusual sound here is "Breakfast in Bed," whose eerie, haunting tone sits somewhere between U2's "With or Without You" and Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." The song closes instrumentally, with a minute and a half of a shimmering sonic assault, a trancelike reminder that there is more to Train than just Monahan's voice. It's not exactly the booming swagger you might hope, but it's an intriguing sound for a band that seems so focused on remaining in its radio-friendly niche.

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St NW; with Uncle Kracker; Sun., Nov. 8, 8 p.m., $35; 202-265-0930.

Written by Express contributor Catherine Lewis
Photo by Mark Holthusen