Golden Bear: Alive

The first album in four years from Austin’s Golden Bear begins with the pallid “The Juggernaut”, and continues in much the same vein. Sure, there are touches of Flaming Lips-esque keyboards, a dash of clever musical interplay, big, big drum sounds and the odd memorable lyric, but for the most part there’s not much here that grabs and maintains the listener’s attention. “All Your Lucky Days” and “Myths” come close but it’s too little far too late. There might be a good band lurking somewhere in these grooves but it never emerges, at least not on Alive.