Three star

SORRY boys, there's no advertising gig here. After the astounding success of Bohemian Like You, hijacked by one mobile phone company and swiftly assumed as THE sound of Saturday afternoon football on Five Live radio, I was hoping for more of an anthem.

None was to be found, even after several hearings and a determination to enjoy myself. The boys from Oregon, on the other hand, appear to have a marvellous time, turning their back on obvious commercial pressures.

This is their second album since their Bohemian bonanza, and is obviously the result of some very fine honing. It took three years to write and is based very cleverly on a 1968 collection of short stories.

Their soft guitar pop-rock is soothing, oddly combining an Enya-like sound with overtones of The Beautiful South, while the penultimate track Hit Rock Bottom smacks bizarrely of Marc Bolan.

Favourite songs were I Am Sound, featuring the impressive addition of a piano, I Am A Scientist, synthesised and more along the lines of Bohemian, and finally We Used To Be Friends, the most catchy and the one, despite what I've said, probably being hunted down by an agency right now.

SCC