The Complex

1	Above 2:46
2	Time to Start 3:43
3	Sing Along 3:25
4	Up to the Roof 3:51
5	Your Attention 4:09
6	Persona 4:30
7	Piano Smasher 3:00
8	White Rabbit 2:54
9	The Current 3:48
10	Shadows, Pt. 2 5:13
11	What Is Rock 2:56
12	The Complex 3:11
13	I Feel Love / Venus Hum 6:29
14	Exhibit 13 8:51

Barnes & Noble

The indigo-dyed chaps who brought performance art into the mainstream push the envelope in yet another direction on this tightly wound, surprisingly diverse concept album. Like most of the Blue Man Group's work, The Complex revolves around topics like alienation, isolation, and the problems of postmodern societal structures. Thing is, you needn't have any interest in the songs' intellectual subject matter to enjoy them -- or to shake a tail feather to their grooves. Unlike the BMG's previous foray into recording, the Grammy-nominated Audio, this disc contains distinct pop songs rather than ambient soundscapes, a difference that's highlighted by the presence of guests like Dave Matthews, whose subtle, sinewy vocal steers the spare "Sing Along" into postmillennial campfire territory. A smattering of covers -- most notably a dive into the psychedelic deep end on "White Rabbit," with electronica maven Esthero handling the vocal duties -- fit nicely into the tale, as do a brace of wry pieces that dissect the rock experience with deadpan, instructional-video interjections. The Complex is about as smart as rock gets -- but even if you choose to check your brain at the door, it's easy to get lost in its mazelike depths and sucked in by its magnetic grooves. David Sprague

All Music Guide

After devoting more than 15 years to building their unique fusion of edgy performance and advanced yet home-brewed technologies, the Blue Man Group moves aggressively toward the mainstream with The Complex. "Mainstream" is, of course, a flexible notion, so what passes as commercial for these guys is a lot more adventurous than most of the era's ear candy. These tracks adhere to clear song structures, with guest vocalists singing actual lyrics on original as well as cover material; a zombie-like cameo by Dave Matthews on "Sing Along" offers the wryest surprises. But an unmistakable imprint endures in the eclectic sonic references and, above all, thundering stage-oriented rhythms. The core members of the group play traditional instruments -- in this case, ranging from standard-issue electric guitar to Hungarian cimbalom, heard most clearly in the opening seconds of "Above" -- as well as their invented gear whose contributions to the din are, frankly, neither critical nor easy to discern. On their version of the disco classic "I Feel Love," for instance, the 16th-note pulse created via sequencer for the Donna Summer original is mimicked by the device they call the Tube, giving rise to the question of whether using something new to do what someone else did with old stuff 20-plus years earlier is worth the effort. But this is, of course, beside the point: Although its inspirations, musical and conceptual, trace as far back as Kraftwerk, The Complex serves as a reminder that modern devices and glistening production values can be applied to the most primal creative instincts, if utilized by the right -- blue -- hands. Robert Doerschuk

Rolling Stone

Chic Euro-techno atmospheres that won't wear off even after you've seen the live show. Christian Hoard