EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

In making the CD, the trio of guitarist/singer Johnny Rzeznik, bassist Robbie Takac and drummer Mike Malinin returned to their hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., seeking fresh inspiration.

Longtime fans might have hoped it would be the perfect setting for the Goo Goo Dolls to rediscover the punkish edge that defined early albums like "Jed" and "Hold Me Up." .But "Let Love In" doesn't sound like an early Goo Goo Dolls album at all. Instead, like the more recent "Gutterflower" and "Dizzy Up The Girl," the new CD emphasizes pop craftsmanship.

Still, in a recent phone interview prior to two coming area shows with the Counting Crows, Takac said the influence of the trip to Buffalo is evident in less audible, but perhaps more important, ways on "Let Love In."

"I think maybe people thought we were going to make 'Jed' again," Takac said. "It wasn't like that at all. What we were trying to regain again was that feeling of a reason why we're making these records to begin with."

For a time before work on the new CD began, Rzeznik, Takac and Malinin weren't sure if remaining a band was in the cards. .

"We came as close to breaking up as we have in a decade about a year ago," Takac said.

One issue was frustration with Warner Bros., the band's label.

After moving more than 5 million copies and reeling off four hit singles with 1998's "Dizzy Up The Girl," "Gutterflower" sold a modest 800,000 copies, to the label's disappointment.

There were also internal band issues.

"Sometimes I don't relate to those guys and they don't relate to me and we don't relate to each other," Takac said. "You know, we spent so much time on the road, we were a little sick of each other."

So before recording a new CD, the three convened at Rzeznik's Los Angeles studio for what turned out to be much more than a jam and songwriting session. . . .

"We mostly wound up sitting around and talking and really trying to understand each other again," Rzeznik said. . .It became clear they still wanted to be a band. That's when they decided to take a bonding trip to Buffalo, and make some big changes in the record-making process.

After having worked with producer Rob Cavallo for more than a decade, they switched to Glen Ballard, who has worked with the likes of Alanis Morissette and Dave Matthews.

"I just think we had outgrown our relationship with Rob," Rzeznik said. "It was sort of like I already knew what we were going to do when we got into the studio if we went in with him again. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to experience someone else's process."

Ballard was not just a producer, but also a songwriter on three tunes, which was unusual for a band that had always been careful about outside involvement.

In the end, though, all involved were extremely satisfied with "Let Love In." Takac calls it the best CD the Goo Goo Dolls have made since starting their career in 1986.

He said their shows with headliner the Counting Crows will feature a set leaning heavily on the new material.

"We went into this record really feeling like we should be able to work it and play the whole thing from start to finish," he said. "In the set itself, what we're doing is pretty much playing the new record, plus nearly everything (else) people want to hear."