' eighth studio album finds the California foursome exploring the more melodic freeways of harmony and texture, contrasting the gritty, funky side streets of their early days. Luckily, with this more sophisticated sound, have not sacrificed any of their trademark energy or passions for life, universal love, and (of course) lust. Although they recorded the spiky in 1988, this album actually sounds a lot closer to ' , with a little of and elements of 's lushest arrangements all distilled through the band's well-traveled - stylings. Harmony vocals and string arrangements have replaced some of the aggressive slap bass that the group was initially recognized for, but fans of both the gentle and the fierce styles will embrace the title track and first single, In fact, this song on its own could almost be a brief history of everything have recorded: fiery Hollywood , gentle harmonies, a little bit of singing about girls, a little bit of hanging out in the streets in the summertime, some rapid-fire raps from , some aggro basslines from -- the song plays like a three-and-a-half-minute audio version of . Overall, the album leans more toward the melodic end of their oeuvre, but they have grown into this kinder, gentler mode organically, progressively working toward this groove little by little, album by album. What once were snapshots of a spastic lifestyle have grown into fully realized short stories of introspection and . Though the pace of the album falters at times (particularly in the verses; the choruses are all pretty spectacular), it is refreshing to see that as the four continue to grow older and more sure of themselves, their composition and performing skills are maturing along with them. ~ Zac Johnson