Fans of classic, high-energy guitar pop should be cheered by this release, particularly those who think none of today's bands match the piss and vinegar of Elvis Costello and the Attractions or the fire and passion of the Jam's early records (before Paul Weller succumbed to English White Boys' Disease: the terribly mistaken belief that one has "soul"). A friend of mine heard traces of Milwaukee's late Blow Pops, and I'd agree: both bands featured two strong songwriters (for the Fletcher Pratt, George Dubber and Stephen Palmer) who alternate vocals, and this album ends with a medley of four short songs just like the Blow Pops' Charmed I'm Sure did (called, if I remember right, "Another Quick One While He's Away Again"). Of the two writers, I slightly prefer whoever's singing on most of the even-numbered tracks (the vocalists aren't credited, and all songs are credited to Dubber/Palmer in Beatles style). His voice is more tartly distinctive and cuts acidically through the sometimes sweet guitars and vocal harmonies. And if indeed he wrote more of the songs he sings, he seems more willing to throw a wrench in the songwriting works: like most guitar-pop bands, The Fletcher Pratt are at their best when they play it least straight. The more they add psychedelic touches or mess with song structure, the better off they are. "Spin Label" seems to have four or five bridges, and its verse cockily swaggers along in sucker-punch 5/4 time. "Lucy and the Train Back" has a great, lurching backbeat, along with piano doubling the bassline, vibes, a crying slide guitar, and theremin. The first track of the ending medley, "Take It Away from Us," features an aching melodic line and is aptly illustrated with a Leslie'd guitar. A moment of "Creep"-like guitar chank sets up a break into the chorus, which is goaded on by twin-channel compressed guitar stings. If Vocalist No. 2 can develop his leads and the band color outside the lines of the arrangements a bit more, the Fletcher Pratt will be one of those bands that transcends the power-pop ghetto.

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