Marvelous Three
ReadySexGo
Hi-Fi/Elektra
This CD kicks off with “Little Head,” a great power pop anthem which is probably the strongest cut on the album, has the good sense to cop a guitar line from Thin Lizzy’s “Cowboy Song” in its break, and makes all those Cheap Trick comparisons seem apropos. Why this song, or the second or third cut, were not chosen as the first single from this album instead of the much weaker (and less accurately representative of the band) “Sugarbuzz” is well beyond me, and others I’ve played the record for.
That complaint aside, this is a strong outing, with lots of late-Beatles touches, a Who-like drum intro (on “Radio Tokyo”) and glossy production approaching near Queen-like proportions. In fact, sometimes the production here is a bit too studied for my tastes; including on the promo copy a commercial for the release, spoken in the world’s smarmiest “Top 40 DJ” voice, was about the stupidest thing the hacks at Elektra could’ve done. A lot of extraneous cameo “appearances” by “big names,” too. Solid, but flirting with megastardom just a tad too shamelessly.
