Before the Robots

1	Burned 3:41
2	Daylight 3:54
3	A Llifetime 3:27
4	It's Only Natural 4:16
5	Overcome 5:22
6	Special 4:03
7	American Dream 3:39
8	Our Last Night 4:12
9	A Southern Thing 4:02
10	Juicy 3:53
11	Hollow 3:30
12	Our Finest Year 4:21
13	Breathless 3:35

Barnes & Noble

Despite what would appear to be more than four years on the sidelines, you can't -- to quote L.L. Cool J -- call this a comeback for Better Than Ezra. The trio spent plenty of time in record company limbo, but they never stopped touring, nor did frontman Kevin Griffin ever stop turning out tunes that lodge readily in the gray matter. Griffin has a knack for writing songs that could pass for miniature short stories, although he never goes out of his way to pat himself on the back for his literacy. That helps imbue songs like the surprisingly rough-edged "A Southern Thang" -- a postmodern take on the Bonnie and Clyde story -- with a cinematic immediacy. It's also central to getting across the poignancy of "A Lifetime," a swelling allegory about life's fragility that's housed in a compact tale of friends getting together to remember a girl killed in an auto accident. While much of the disc will be familiar to folks schooled in the sounds that marked the first four BTE offerings, there are a few curve balls secreted within. Take the surreptitiously sexy "It's Only Natural," which was written in tandem with San Diego glamsters Louis XIV -- whose Brian Harcsig lends some vocal help to the tune. Another left turn comes on "Juicy," a disco-fried biscuit that slips 'n' slides niftily through its paces, lifted by Griffin's falsetto and the steamy organ playing of Papa Grows Funk keyboardist John Gross. None of the side trips are so far out as to put off fans who came to enjoy the band back in the day -- but most are scenic enough to entice those who might be new to the Land of Ez. David Sprague

All Music Guide

With the rather cryptically titled Before the Robots, Better Than Ezra settles down into a comfortable adult pop groove, no longer dabbling in the hip-hop and electronica that has surfaced on every album since 1997's How Does Your Garden Grow? In its place is a surprisingly soulful undercurrent that surfaces on such laid-back highlights as "Daylight" and "It's Only Natural." Instead of pointing Better Than Ezra in a new direction, these soulful pop tunes are used as accents on a collection of straight-ahead, anthemic, songwriter-driven rock. While there are still some snarls of electric guitars, Before the Robots is largely a meditative work, built on acoustic guitars; even when it hits hard and gets loud, it's with layers of vocal harmonies, keyboards, and guitars creating a rush of sound, emphasizing the emotional thrust of songwriter Kevin Griffin's songs. There are some light moments here -- including the supremely silly but infectious "Juicy," where Griffin struts a rarely heard falsetto over a funky vamp -- but the overall tone of the record drives from the melancholy, vaguely nostalgic vibe of such songs as "A Lifetime," "American Dream," and "Our Finest Year." These reflective sentiments add weight to Better Than Ezra's earnest rock, and help make Before the Robots one of the group's sturdiest, most satisfying albums. Stephen Thomas Erlewine