Hanson: Isaac Hanson (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar); Taylor Hanson (vocals, harmonica, keyboards, percussion); Zac Hanson (vocals, drums).

Additional personnel: Stephen Lironi (guitar, organ, bass, loops); Jonny Lang (electric guitar); Joel Derouin (violin); David Campbell (viola); Larry Corbett, Cameron Stone (cello); John Popper, Scott Gordon (harmonica); Kevin Wyatt (bass); Abe Laborial Jr, (drums); Ged Lynch, Michael Fischer (percussion); DJ Swamp, The Rose Stone Choir.

Engineers include: Doug Trantow, Scott Gordon, Steve Churchyard.

Recorded at A&M Music Grinders Studios, Los Angeles, California; NRG and El Dorado Studios, Burbank, California; Three Car Garage Studios, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Hanson's long-awaited sophomore studio album actually dares to mess with the formula that made the brothers teen idols on MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. The production is still split between the hip (the turntable scratching on "If Only"), and the bombastic (the concluding ballad "A Song to Sing"), and the songs are still mostly three chord bubble-gum with addictively hooky choruses chirped by the brothers in their best Hollies-on-helium style.

What's different here, though, is that for the first time the songs are all Hanson originals, and it turns out that the kids are alright--a lot of the songs here are not only well-crafted but have surprising depth. Check out the title track, a rousing piece of ersatz gospel rock with truly weird lyrics about death that sounds--really--like the greatest single the Black Crowes never made. And that's not even the catchiest track, as witness "Dying to Be Alive," which owes a pleasing stylistic debt to the Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl" (Cars auteur Ric Ocasek apparently assisted in the production). Meanwhile, blues phenomenon Jonny Lang, who's equally as photogenic as the Hansons, and Blues Traveller harmonica virtuoso John Popper (who's not), turn in some brief, yet tasty licks on "Hand in Hand" and "In the City," respectively.

Rolling Stone (5/25/00, pp.69-70) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...They have matured into a bang-up rock&roll band, singing and playing...high-energy gems...with a surprisingly adult confidence....showing off...deepened harmonies...instrumental prowess and Taylor's sexy, bluesy growl..."

Entertainment Weekly (5/12/00, pp.74-5) - "...Dense and beefy, the songs are infused with flourishes more common to blues-rock jam bands...the high points fuse their new, semi-grown-up sensibility and throatier voices with bundle-of-energy melodies..." - Rating: B

Q (6/00, p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Better than [their] first [album]....they come close to ['MmmBop'] catchiness on the album's first single, 'If Only', and on 'Runaway Run'..."

CMJ (6/00, p.61) - "...Not only do [Hanson] have chops as instrumentalists, they've just written and coproduced a great sophomore disc....[showing] more versatility and skill than most of today's radio-ready acts..."