Third Eye Blind´s second album will go a long way in helping the San Francisco-based band to shed their corporate-rock label. Less grandiose and obvious than their 1997 debut, the elegantly flawed Blue crackles with energy and dark humor, but doesn´t wade in the same pools of gloom and despair as its self-titled predecessor. Frontman Stephan Jenkins has exchanged his intricate stream-of-consciousness musings for more streamlined soulful wordplay. The assertive, inventive guitars recall such big bruisers of yesteryear as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, but without the heavy-handedness. "Never Let You Go," the album´s standout, is as catchy as Rick Springfield´s "Jesse´s Girl," but with a raw edge and a snarling Jaggeresque rap by Jenkins. Smart, poppy, and ironic, Blue more than solidifies Third Eye Blind´s standing as a band on the rise.