After four years, two albums and enough ups-and-downs to destroy many a lesser band, ladies and gentlemen, the Goo Goo Dolls have ARRIVED. This Buffalo (NY) power-trio owes a lot of their spirit to early Replacements: there's the same alcohol-fueled power-punk abandon softened by timeless pop hooks, and the Goos are also legendary for their crazy choices of cover material (this LP features songs written by the Plimsouls and Prince!). While their long-lost first LP was too juvenile and the last was simply too much like the Replacements, this one finds the band delivering on all of its potential: the influences have been absorbed into a distinctive sound that comes across more as Ramones-meet-early-Cheap Trick than anything else. While this album is more suited to "alternative" radio, metal shows should check "Laughing," "There You Are," "Hey" and (for laffs) "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man."