This is exactly what it looked like:
Hanson moves backward with garage tracks
Hanson
3 Car Garage
(Mercury)
Back when teen idols had no autonomy whatsoever, the record company would have put out this collection of early demons no later than three months after the band scored its first No. 1 hit. It's way past time for another original studio album; this collection, recorded in a garage in 1995-'96 before they had a record deal, simply isn't adequate to meet their fans' fickle demands.
The candy-coated sheen that mad "Middle of Nowhere" more than just a promising record by a talented trio of teenagersis almost totally missing from these self-produced tracks. There are certainly hints of greatnes, however; the original version of "MMMBop" is a bit slower than the hit, but any record executive in America would have recognized it as a slice of pop genius, bubbling up from that nameless wellspring that keeps spitting out such acts as Tommy James and the Shondells, the Jackson Five and the Bangles.
The trouble is, kids who loved "Middle of Nowhere" are a year older, while these tapes are three years younger. Lyrics like "Stories will be told...let me tell you mine...until I saw you in the corner of my eye...it changed my whole life" are simply funny.
I think now they really have stories to tell, and their lives actually have changed. Theyr'e better musicians, too. Let's hear the new stuff - now.
--Rick Shefchik
Knight Ridder Newspapers
