Magnum Cum Louder

1987's found adding a considerable amount of polish to their production and toning down their trademark humor in a bid for a wider audience. But in the United States, it didn't pay off; opened few new doors for , and they were dropped by . Thankfully, 1989's found them newly contracted to and sounding like their loyal fans loved them to sound -- loud, hooky, and rockin' out with a smile on their collective face. The album's opener, was ' most irresistible pop song since and proved they hadn't used up all their good hooks in one place. Meanwhile, those wanting something stronger got their fix with a handful of top-shelf rockers, most notably The high wackiness of classics like is still missing from , but the overall tone is much more relaxed than ; seems to be having a fun with the songs here, especially the mock-pompous the smirking and the baseball saga/music biz metaphor also went back to producing themselves, and the audio is full but uncluttered, with a roomy, natural sounding mix that flatters 's guitars and 's drums more than the slicker, sterile sound of proved that knew better than anyone how to make a great album, and it marked a welcome return to form for the band. ~ Mark Deming