Disco de Tonic: “Tonic”

Although I've read some bad reviews, I listen with my ears wide open. I enjoyed it. No it's not like their previous cds, but still....it's got the Tonic flavor. A little more mellow....but I enjoy that side of the guys. Being in my fifties...I hear alot in their music & THAT is what I've always enjoyed the most. It's new & refreshing.....with just that hint of influence that I know & understand. Comforting to me in my "old age" LOL

After three incredible albums and 100 years worth of incredible hooks and catchy tunes Tonic falls flat with their new album. The album starts off great with the opener `Release Me' which for me brought back memories of great openers `Roses' and `Future Says Run' from previous Tonic albums. However, after this song the album falls short of any great music that made you smile, rock out and sing along. In fact I would say this album is more of a progression from Emerson's good solo album "Cigarettes and Gasoline", a softer Tonic I'd say. A more mellow sound was great for Emerson's album but that's not what I expect from Tonic. Where are the great guitar riffs, the addictive hooks and the soaring choruses? That's what made Tonic great! Their soft sensibility with a rock edge. There is absolutely none of that on this album minus the opener.

I understand why die-hard Tonic fans come on here and give the album five stars after listening to it one time, but I'll be honest and impartial here. There's only one track on this whole album that holds a candle to any previous Tonic albums. If I were to personally make a Tonic great song playlist I'd maybe, maybe include one song from this album when taking their whole back catalog into consideration. Go back and listen to previous albums and tell me I'm wrong. There is nothing on this album but forced song writing and after an eight year hiatus that sucks for their great fans. I hope they stay together this time and I hope they remember to go back to their roots and do what they as a band do best, that's write great lyrical music backed by wonderful soaring choruses and hook hungry guitars. It hurts me to have to give a negative review here because I was so excited for their new album as I loved their previous work. But I'll pass on this album and I'll look forward to the guys spending quality time in the studio writing and producing their next album.

I have been a fan of Tonic since their first album came out. They are one band I always buy their music, even when Emerson came out with a solo project. I was upset when they broke up but excited when they came back with this album.

It took a few listens to change me from not loving it and being disappointed to loving it. This album does sound different to a degree from their last 3 albums but I ended up loving, as usual, every song on the album.

If you have been a fan of their work in the past I say give if a go on this one.

First I have to admit that I am a fan of Tonic from their start and that I was eagerly anticipating their comeback CD, so I admit that I may have been overly generous with the 3-star rating. It was only after reading the mouseover text while hovering over the 2-star that I made my decision. According to Amazon, a 2-star rating equates to "I don't like it." while a 3-star equals "It's OK." And, that's about how I feel about this album. It's just OK. Nothing more. A few of the songs show moments of promise but, for the most part, the material on this CD is a couple of notches below their previous efforts. And when a song does try to struggle out of the generic sameness that oozes from the speakers, it is crushed by the poor recording quality. A large part of Tonic's appeal has always been the blend of Emerson Hart's acoustic guitar with Jeff Russo's edgier distorted electric guitar sounds. The result was a hard rock feel tempered with a jangly "lightness". Sadly, the heavy element has been replaced with all lightness. Likewise, the blend of Hart's and Russo's vocals on this record seems to have pushed Russo to the back, and Hart's thin voice struggles to project.

So, while better than no Tonic record at all, this one places a distant last when compared to their previous outings.

I have been following Tonic since the days of Lemon Parade. They are my all time favorite band. I've spent hours trying to figure out how to play their songs on guitar (because tabs are hard to come by). I was heart broken when I learned that they had broken up back in 2006ish. So you can imagine my excitement when I read that they had gotten back together and were working on a new album. I pre-ordered on Amazon and had it a day after it came out. And boy am I disappointed ...

I struggle to like even one track on this album. I've read reviews about how the music is "so Tonic" and "nothing like anything else out there today". I have to disagree. The three previous albums definitely stood out from the crowd. Rarely did you hear a straight power-chord and open tunings were used on the majority of the songs. This album ... not so much. I think Jeff has 2, maybe 3, solos on the whole album. It seemed like Emerson's voice was too loud in the mix. Don't get me wrong, I think he has one of the best voices out there, but sometimes it can be too much. Jeff said in an interview once that all their songs are written on acoustic guitars and can be played plugged or un-plugged and still sound good. Where is the acoustic guitar on this album? All I heard was distortion. Even the drumming seems to have taken a step backwards. I saw Tonic last summer with the Gin Blossoms and their drummer was by far the best one among the three bands that played that night. On this album the drum beats seem boring, bland and standard. Other people have said that this album seems like an extension of Emerson's solo album and I couldn't agree more. I really enjoyed Emerson's solo album but, like others have said, I expected something different from my favorite band. I describe this album to my friends as Vertical Horizon covering Foo Fighters.

Mainly I think they tried a little too hard to get this album out quickly. There were 2 - 3 years in between their other albums; plenty of time to craft a fantastic final product. The band got back together early in 2009 and basically wrote, recorded, produced and published this album in ~9 months. Hopefully Tonic will spend a little more time on the next album and hopefully they will go back to their roots. If you're a Tonic fan you have to pick this one up of course, but don't expect to find the masterful blend of acoustic and electric guitar or the harmonic sound of open tunings that were done so well in the first three albums.