Toad The Wet Sprocket: Coil

Over the course of six albums, Toad The Wet Sprocket has carved out a respectable niche as a tight, crisp, jangly, earnest little modern-rock band. Hits like "Fall Down, "All I Want" and "Walk On The Ocean" have thrived because they're simply nice, pretty, radio-friendly pop songs, with big, stirring choruses and tastefully arranged playing. It's not that Toad has never made a musical or lyrical statement; it's just been a while, and that doesn't seem to have alienated the group's many fans. On the new Coil, Toad spends most of its time within even the strictest boundaries of good taste, though its biggest misfires come when the band strays from its slight, inoffensive sound: The slogging "Little Buddha" is a boring dirge with weeping strings and repetition of the words "tee-hee, ha-ha," while the heavier "Desire" is marred by big, ham-fisted guitars and unconvincingly tough posturing. Toad The Wet Sprocket occasionally gets slagged by critics for being bland, but the best tracks on Coil are safe, solid, mildly upbeat songs like "Rings," "Crazy Life" and "Come Down." You don't get anything particularly daring or revelatory on a Toad The Wet Sprocket record, but there's nothing wrong with the warm, winning material that populates the vast majority of Coil.