I’ve put up a few tracks from the Goo Goo Doll’s latest album over the past few months, mainly the singles that have emerged before the release date such as ‘Better Days’, ‘Give a Little Bit’ and lately ‘Stay With You’. I finally got my hands on “Let Love In” yesterday and was amazed by it. Very few bands these days actually show progress in their music, by trying new things and fine tuning the old. Let Love In is filled with the pop-rock ballads of Johnny Rzeznik which were made famous in the 90′s with hits like Name, Iris and Slide. There’s a notable absence of bassist Robby Takac’s punk rockish tracks which I usually don’t care too much for anyway.

Let Love In however distinguishes itself from previous albums with a greater emphasis on the piano and strings arrangement. It’s a very polished album compared to the rawer arena-type songs of other albums.

In my opinion the songs which always stand out on a Goo album are Rzeznikâ??s rock ballads that fall in line with hits like Name and Iris; driven by acoustics and heartfelt lyrics. On this album they include ‘Better Days’, ‘Without You Here’, ‘Feel The Silence’ and ‘Become’. While more radio friendly pop-rock songs include ‘Stay With You’, ‘Let Love In’ and ‘Can’t Let it Go’.

It’s definitely an album worth checking and many Goo fans will love it while others will probably feel itâ??s a bit disappointing but probably because itâ??s been 4 years since Gutterflower. Since I probably won’t have a new radio play list for this week I will add a few new songs I loved from the album: ‘Without You Here’, ‘Can’t Let it Go’ and ‘Let Love In’. So give them a listen on the Black Iris Radio this week.

Bottom Line: 4/5