"Anyone who has ever tried to cope with their emotional problems via cases of cheap beer and knock-off Jack Daniel's will immediately relate to "New Miserable Experience", the high-water mark of the fine but tragically short-lived early-mid 90s rock band the Gin Blossoms.

It would be easy to dismiss the Blossoms as just another self-piteous rock-pop band, but the atmosphere of factory town blues, heartache, hopeless obsession with ex-girlfriends, and general drunken misery is alleviated by liberal doses of humor and self-mockery as well as some clever and even brilliant lyrics. Some of my favorites, from the lesser-known songs on the album:

"So she filled up her sails/With my wasted breath/Each one's more wasted than the other/You can bet." -- Allison Road

"When you're in the company of strangers/or some strangers you call friends...." -- Hold Me Down

"If you don't expect too much from me/You might not be let down" -- Hey Jealousy (okay, this is not a lesser known song, but I like the lyric)

"They say you can't miss/Something that you never had/so tell me why/why I should feel so bad" -- Cajun Song

"Ginmill/Rainfall/What do you remember/if at all?/Only pieces/Of the night" -- Pieces of the Night

This album was best known for producing AOR radio hits like "Hey Jealousy", "Until I Fall Away" and "I Found Out About You." They are most definitely representative of the album, but not, in my opinion, the album's best songs. Unlike most pop-rock efforts, there is virtually no filler to be found here, and the tracks that didn't make radio are every bit as good as the ones that did -- or better.

George Orwell once wrote that good literature spoke to the reader on a one-on-one level -- it made the reader feel like the writer was writing about him, personally: experiences, feelings, moods, attitudes. This album has the exact same effect on me, but musically. If you've ever felt stuck by inertia in a dead-end town, that's "Lost Horizons." If you ever put your life ruinously on hold for a woman you knew would never stay with you, that's "Mrs. Rita." If you ever found yourself acting like a psycho over an ex-girlfriend, "Found Out About You" will make you feel even more like a tool. If you ever felt completely adrift, you were probably living on "Allison Road." And if you ever tried to deal with that that $--t by drinking yourself into utter oblivion, "Pieces of the Night" will be as familiar as your alcohol-soaked brain can remember.

That's "New Miserable Experience." An excellent piece of music from a band that lived up to its tragic expectations for itself, and left us with the eternal piece of lover's wisdom: "It can't be cheatin' -- she reminds me of you." - M.G. Watson, Amazon .com

Track List:

01 Lost Horizons 3:21

02 Hey Jealousy 3:56

03 Mrs. Rita 4:26

04 Until I Fall Away 3:52

05 Hold Me Down 4:51

06 Cajun Song 2:57

07 Hands Are Tied 3:18

08 Found Out About You 3:53

09 Allison Road 3:19

10 29 4:20

11 Pieces of the Night 4:34

12 Cheatin' 3:25

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