Transistor was originally intended to be a double album, but all songs were instead placed onto one disc. Retrospectively, however, the album has been more positively received.Ĭlocking in at 67:59 and with twenty-one tracks (or twenty-three, counting both hidden tracks), Transistor is 311's longest album and is the only 311 album to contain more than sixteen tracks. Upon its release, Transistor received negative reviews from critics, who felt that the record was overlong and self-indulgent. The album saw a change in musical style as fewer songs feature rapping in comparison to the band's previous albums. Key track: "Waiting," a rancid glop of island sunshine so half-baked it'll give you a new appreciation for 311's shants-rap days.About Transistor is the fourth studio album by 311. On the plus side, this is probably the exact moment when 311 realized that pivoting into a career as a literal cruise-ship band wouldn't be the worst idea.
Having seen returns diminish, creatively and commercially, on Evolver, the band upped the reggae quotient for its eighth album and grasped at another "Amber," with middling results.
The chorus is absolutely terrible, but I would have no qualms bouncing along to this in a pogo pit with a $15 cup of Leinenkugel in hand. Key track: "Weightless," a serotonin-powered anthem that rides one of the most memorably buoyant licks guitarist Tim Mahoney has written to date. Half the tracks feel like they were written during a wake-and-bake session right in the studio, which adds to a slapdash feel that bolsters the record's energy in a surprising way. T he album art would make a great unisex sarong to wear at What the Festival, too. With only eight tracks, 311's first record for Dave Matthews' imprint ATO Records feels more like a stopgap rushed to market to justify staying on the road for another year. All of 311's muscles are flexed across Transistor's 21 tracks, from the tenacious punk-funk energy of "What Was I Thinking" and "Electricity" to the ambling psych reggae of "Inner Light Spectrum" and "Running." Even the haters can't deny that "Stealing Happy Hours" is a sleeper hit, now regarded as one of the band's best, thanks to heavy rotation toward the end of 311's marathon live sets. Aside from lead single "Beautiful Disaster," which adequately satisfied the thirst of alt-rock radio programmers, the rest of the record is basically one stellar deep cut after the next. So, in honor of 311 Day, we decided to dive into their discography, to figure out what's worth revisiting and what you should feel justified in avoiding.Ĭritics and new fans alike initially hated Transistor for its noodly ambition and failure to keep the party going after "Down" lit up the radio, but this sprawling, 64-minute epic has revealed itself over time to be 311's OK Computer. But any artist with that much staying power shouldn't be shrugged off so easily. Music snobs long ago dismissed 311 as a silly frat phenomenon.
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