If the real State Route 37 near San Francisco is anything like Train’s newest album, take a detour through the North Bay Area. Titled “California 37” in reference to the band members’ home, the landmarks are few and far between in this bland addition to the rock landscape.

The single currently making the rounds on the airwaves is “Drive By,” a cookie cutter song promising devotion that features Pat Monahan’s voice nicely, along with a catchy hook. The idea of promising not to drive by, while somewhat odd, is actually one of the more sensible lyrical choices.

Monahan seems determined to fit as many pop culture references into the album as possible. The opening track “This’ll Be My Year” starts in ’85 with Nintendo and Live Aid and includes historic events from the Olympics to the beginning of “The Simpsons.” More egregiously, the idea of “You Can Finally Meet My Mom” in heaven is sweet for that special someone, but Monahan namedrops everyone from Jesus to André the Giant to Whitney Houston as people who will not get to meet his mom.

Perhaps the strongest track is the duet “Bruises” with country singer Ashley Monroe. The soft acoustic song with country flavor that sounds like it could have been a Taylor Swift song works great as Monroe and Monahan sing to each other. The other acoustic songs, while not quite typical Train, are more interesting, especially “Sing Together” with its use of ukulele and horns. The most interesting song on the album is the nod to Paul Simon, “50 Ways to Say Goodbye.” The mariachi and Spanish influence make for a good time, even if the lyrics saying all the ways his ex-lover could have died end up coming across as petty.

Pop-rock is a forgotten genre at this point, and this album does nothing to change that. The most interesting tracks are the country and mariachi fusions of “Bruises” and “50 Ways to Say Goodbye,” and even those aren’t enough to make this album anywhere close to special. It may still ride “Drive By” to a high spot on the charts, but Train has shown far greater potential than this in the past.