Track Listing

1. Meet Virginia
2. I Am
3. If You Leave
4. Homesick
5. Free
6. Blind
7. Eggplant
8. Idaho
9. Days
10. Rat
11. Swaying
12. Train
13. Heavy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7476 in Music
• Released on: 1998-02-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
While easily comparable to R.E.M., Train travel a little farther south, stopping in Allman Brothers country. Ballads like "If You Leave" and "Homesick" could be mistaken for early demos by Athens's most beloved sons, but when the guitar solos kick in, it's classic Southern goodness. Luckily, Train don't derail themselves by sticking solely to greasy jams and high-wire guitar acrobatics. The San Francisco-based five-piece keep their slice-of-life sound simple and lean, never overdoing what doesn't need to be overdone. Frontman Patrick Monahan has a voice that was made for this material. Bearing an uncanny vocal resemblance to Blues Traveler's John Popper, he slip-slides from one drunken heartbreak to another, but always gets up, brushes the dirt off his jeans, and keeps on living. --Jason Josephes

Customer Reviews

Another good example that rock is back...
This is one of the best new albums I've heard in a long time. I bought it because it satisfied my "two good song" rule: Any band can come up with a one-hit wonder, but a CD with TWO good songs on it is worth purchasing. And so, after hearing "Free" and "Meet Virginia" on the radio, and decided that Train was worth a try. Plus, I had seen them in concert with Ben Folds Five and had been quite impressed with their live show. Well, the rest of the CD doesn't disappoint. My suspicions that they have an affinity for the Allman Brothers (an affinity which this homesick Southern boy shares, by the way) were proven correct by the CD. Nothing like a little bit of guitar-driven rock to shake me out of my MTV-induced doldrums. Couple that with inspired lyric-writing and lead singer Patrick Monahan's sublime vocal stylings and you've got an album that will keep me listening for a long time. Train's self-titled debut is a worthy buy for any true rock-and-roll fan.

To the beat of a different drummer
This band can take you from an excellent high to an awesome low... great lyrics, good sounds.. all around they rock, they are great live, and this is a great cd to take on a road trip to get some space.. I recommend to any music fan.

San Francisco Does Something Right
"Meet Virginia" is a good, traipsing pop rock song about a dying relationship. That said, everyone in the world has heard the song too much.

Forget that song, there are 12 others on the disk. "I Am" is a powerful country-rock ballad about a man filled with self-doubt preparing to close a chapter of his life. No song in modern rock can equal the baggage this song carries with it. "If You Leave" is that cynical rock love song that makes people cringe or think. "Homesick" is another country rock ballad about coming home. A nice, pretty, harmless tune. Then "Free" comes, a rock song about loneliness and freedom. It is a special moment on the CD. All the songs are surpisingly stong though, especiall the first half of the album. "Blind" is a heart-rendering ballad about dying love. "Rat" is a great song for all the graduates out there.

Train pulled off an eye-opening record. The songs are catchy, well-crafted, smart, and good. Oh yeah, the album cost $22,000 to make and it's platinum. At times the underproduction comes out a bit more raw and that much better. All in all, Train did the impossible, make a good rock record in the second half of the 1990s.