Frontman Butch Walker sounds more West London than Deep South; he isn't shy about citing his influences, but he uses them creatively. On "#27," Oasis get a sly lyrical nod as the guitar lick revisits
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Prince's "When You Were Mine." On the anti-radio hit "Freak of the Week," Walker's New Wave guitar riffs are so euphoric that they practically ping-pong off the Marvelous 3's low-key rhythm section (bassist Jayce Fincher and drummer Slug).
At times the music becomes too drunk on its own effervescence. With its "do-do-do" backup vocals and cloying refrain of "You were cool as hell like e-mail/But still timeless like a letter," "You're So Yesterday" tries so hard to be a classic chart topper that it falls off the grid. And the labored nod to mod-speak in "Every Monday" ("I was fucked up by five/Talking nothing but jive") is enough to make Austin Powers blush. But nothing can dim Hey! Album's relentless good cheer. (RS 806)
NEVA CHONIN