This is one of those strange albums that received much more attention than it deserves. This isn’t to say that it’s bad; actually, it’s quite good. The problem with Train’s Save Me, San Francisco is that it fades into the background, to the point that you don’t even recognize you’re listening to it. The two primary singles, “Hey, Soul Sister” and “If It’s Love” did well on the charts because they simply hit the right, formulaic notes. “Marry Me” is marginally better, and the one stand-out track is the titular “Save Me, San Francisco.” The rest of the album consists of tracks that are simply not memorable.

I suspect that most who listen to this album in 2025 are doing so out of a sense of nostalgia. I’m one of them, and I played it after “Drops of Jupiter” came on the radio last week (and that song is authentically good).

I wish this album could have been more, but it makes for decent background listening.