From the school of big rock hooks whose alumni include Fountains of Wayne and Superdrag, Ultimate Fakebook come. The result is a thick guitar sound and pleasant, catchy vocals. Like their peers in power pop, UF don’t usually rock out ahead of or on the beat, instead they stay right in the rhythmic pocket (as it were). It’s a device which only lets them rock so hard. Basically, they just turn up the guitars. There’s quite of bit of power pop that I can go for, but often, I find myself wishing they’d just let ‘er rip. Either that or turn down and concentrate on the pop melodies. UF are stuck somewhere in the middle. Often the songs are hooky, but just as often, they end and you can’t remember what you just heard.

–TA