Retro guitar rock -- happy and high energy. Male harmony vocals. Musical allusions include Big Star, Beau Brummels, Buckinghams, Beatles... discover more as an exercise, but they must start with “B.” (CD features retro lyrics, too, like “I was taken with you, girl. Why can’t you do what’s expected of you?”) Nice vocal harmonies, safe but very musical arrangements -- subtle but intense -- that sound better with each listen. Very tight playing. Great songs (the sine qua non, right?). Third LP from this Detroit, Michigan band. Every song a hit. A very fine album. Start with 1, 3, 6. No FCC’s.

==> 1. Romantic, slightly desperate rocker with a happy melody. Nice ’60s harmonies. “Are you devoted?” Prominent keyboards throughout. Starts with solo guitar. Slows and fades.
2. The B-side to track one (says me). “The poison morning sending you home....” Nice Beatlesesque harmonies. Starts with solo guitar. Fades.
==> 3. Beau-Brummels worship done very well. Sweet pop spiced with lyrical and musical tension. Starts with noisy solo guitar. Ends suddenly on an “oh yeah!”
4. Swaying blues pop with Beau-Brummels harmonies. Starts with drums. Fades.
5. Insistent blues rocker with harmonies. Hard verse, soft chorus. “I know that you are gonna answer to me!” Starts quietly with chicken-scratch guitar. Ends with falsetto vocals and fade.
==> 6. Big-Star worship... gives Teenage Fanclub a run for their money. Sparse. Acoustic guitar & bongos. Starts with solo acoustic guitar. Fades.
7. Buckinghams worship. Vocals panned hard right. Quiet/loud. Bridge is 100% pure Mersey. Starts with full band, but quiet... soon gets loud. Fades.
8. Big-Star worship again. A slow, quiet ballad that eventually rocks out a bit, with double slide-guitar interplay. Starts with guitar and synth... then just guitar... then piano comes in. Fades.
9. Reminiscent of Supergrass (huh? a band whose name doesn’t start with B?). Features great horns. Starts with 4 seconds of near silence via a very quiet guitar note... then loud solo guitar. Fades.
10. Blues rocker. “It leaves you hollow as a gun.” Quiet/loud. Pretty, CSNY-like harmony bridge. Starts with twin guitars. Gets loud and intense at end, then fades.