Give me something better

It’s somewhat surprising more bands aren’t from Woodstock, N.Y., considering how much music and drug culture is associated with the town’s name.

A band that has made a lasting imprint on the town’s musical legacy is 3, a progressive rock act that formed about 20 years ago and played at Woodstock ’94. The quartet finally released its masterpiece with 2007’s “The End Is Begun,” and the reward was a set of high-profile tours supporting Porcupine Tree, Scorpions and Dream Theater.

“The Ghost You Gave to Me” is the disappointing follow-up to that album. It seems that chief songwriter Joey Eppard exhausted the best bits of his notebook on the last record. His trademark flamenco slap guitar is still the focal point of most of the songs here, but what surrounds those passages is rarely interesting.

To Eppard’s credit, “React” is perhaps the best song 3 has ever made ­— a densely layered pop song with gorgeous vocal melodies and enough twists and turns to earn its “progressive” tag with ease. But it remains a shining moment on an album with few others.