Star City Baby

The Lackloves' second album, 2002's Star City Baby, is a continuation of the sound of their debut, As Far As You Know, which itself was the logical next step from singer/guitarist Mike Jarvis and bassist Jack Rice's two early-'90s albums with the Blow Pops, two of the most beloved albums of the '90s pop underground. These 11 songs are clearly indebted to all the usual suspects of power pop: the Beatles, Kinks, Hollies, Big Star, Flamin' Groovies, and Squeeze all leap immediately to mind while listening to these 11 jangly and harmony-heavy pop/rock nuggets. But where many bands working this side of the musical street invoke those heavyweights only to remind the listener of how inferior their own efforts are, Jarvis is a gifted songwriter with a knack for creamy-smooth verses and choruses that stick in the listener's head almost immediately. The dreamy "Down Deep" is the album's clear highlight, a song that any member of Badfinger or the Raspberries would have killed to have written. Jarvis even gets away with a song entitled "Molasses Funk," which sounds like one of the Sweet's harder-edged B-sides from their early "'Wig Wam Bam'" days. There is nothing that will change the world on Star City Baby, but it's a terrific frothy summertime pop album. ~ Stewart Mason|