The Spin Doctors’ new album, “Turn it Upside Down,” is a worthy follow-up to “Kryptonite.” At a time when young bands tend to wallow in noise and negation, the Spin Doctors continue to embrace everyone and everything. Guitarist Eric Schenkman, 29, glides irreverently through pop, funk, jazz and bullish, distorted, ’70s-style rock. (Kurt Cobain’s guitar said, What for? Schenkman’s says, Why not?) And front man Chris Barron – a 26-year-old hippie, history buff and thinker of deep thoughts – offers lovely, nimble melodies and lyrics filled with an eccentric poetry: “I’m beige and funky, like a rubber band/I’m a lapis-eyed devil with my pen in hand.” There’s something sweet about the way Barron fusses over his lyrics; it’s as if he wants to give consumers more for their money. “Upside Down” has its share of radio-ready pop tunes: namely, “You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast” and “Laraby’s Gang,” a wistful, midtempo reflection on the New York club scene, where the band first began toiling in 1989. In the past the Spin Doctors have seemed ambivalent about writing these sorts of songs – Barron once referred to them as “our white-bread hits.” But while the other groups can all play guitar solos deep into the night, not one has such a consistently deft touch with the priceless, three-minute pop song. The Spin Doctors are clearly a band with legs – or, if you prefer, wheels.
