SPIN DOCTORS”You’ve Got to Believe in Something”Epic*...

SPIN DOCTORS

“You’ve Got to Believe in Something”

Epic

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Give the Docs credit for sticking with it. The New York band’s shamblin’, stoner spirit has survived the group’s precipitous rise and equally steep fall (“From rags to riches and back again,” sings Chris Barron on this album) and the departure last year of its musical anchor, guitarist Eric Schankman.

The Spin Doctors’ third album has a communal buoyancy, right down to an otherwise unnecessary version of KC & the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way I Like It” barked by unlikely guest Biz Markie. And new guitarist Anthony Kirzan is a find, his limber leads and rich chording taking the band down such new paths as the “Abbey Road” aura of “Dogs on a Doe.”

But perseverance and spirit can’t compensate for facile writing. Barron, with his vocal range of at least three notes, relies on affected phrasings that after three albums are less a trademark than an annoying turnoff. And he’s downright obnoxious on “I Can’t Believe You’re Still With Her,” a petulant put-down of a pal’s girlfriend. So much for good vibes.

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