Dizzy Up the Girl

Listening to this 1998 release it’s hard to believe that the Goo Goo Dolls’ sound was once clearly modeled on the loose rock & roll of the Faces and the sloppy garage grooves of the Replacements, to name but two early influences. Especially considering how their breakthrough power ballad “Name,” from their previous album <i>A Boy Named Goo</i>, was a slick example of highly evolved hard rock — an angelic love letter to pop. Like the guy at your high school reunion who looks so much better as a posh lawyer than the debate team president, the Buffalo band benefits greatly from its transformation, ultimately finding the crowd-pleasing calling it apparently should have heeded from the beginning. Following up on the success of “Name,” <i>Dizzy Up the Girl</i> features similar aching, melodic ballads in “Black Balloon” and “Iris,” the latter becoming a smash hit thanks in large part to its inclusion on the popular <i>City of Angels</i> soundtrack. But they never completely abandoned their sloppy roots — catchy, hook-laden rockers like “Dizzy,” “Slide,” and “Broadway” prove they can still turn it up — they just learned to play to their strengths. This release may be more polished and polite than their six previous efforts, but it’s no less appealing. And it earned them a whole new legion of fans in the process.