The Game of Love - Michelle Branch and Carlos Santana

Most would laugh to know I really dig this song, however I have two words in my defense: New Radicals. What the hell does the short-lived project of producer/songwriter extraordinaire Gregg Alexander have to do with this? Well, I too have biases against both the self-indulgent noodler Carlos Santana and Disney chick Michelle Branch, but suspend those biases for a moment and listen, really listen to the song (if you're a New Radical fan - if you're not go ahead and laugh at me and skip the rest of this entry 'cuz none nothing here is going to help). Sound familiar? That's because Alexander wrote this song and it sounds exactly like something that could have been on the New Radicals one and only masterpiece album Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. Sure Ms. Branch's voice is great but a bit sugary, and Carlos does the whole na-na-na, na-na-na thing, but the New Radical's imprint is there. I believe there's a version of Alexander doing this floating around on the youtubes, but it's stripped back demo production does it no credit. This is the kind of thing that, if not full-out produced by that man, needed to be put through the pop machine.