And it is a lovely record. It is sweet, innocent, playful, concise (eleven cuts in 32 ½ minutes) and always euphonious. It is meticulously crafted, having taken two years to complete. The sound is crisp and clear with a rootsy, quasi-L.A. Country-Rock tinting and mucho harmonies. The aforementioned "I Love You More Each Day" wouldn’t feel out of place on the first Eagles’ album, except for those tubas and that dissonant orchestration. Second number "Such A Lady" could almost pass for a current day Teenage Fanclub recording, though with slightly more twangy guitar and pedal steel than those Scots are use to. The also aforementioned, jaunty, acoustic oriented "She’ll Stay With You" has a passing similarity to Creedence’s "Down On The Corner" and then with the greatest of ease slips into a bit of Doo-wop, including quotes from "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" and "The Book Of Love" for its outro; all in under two-and-a-half minutes. "Bobby California," a funky, gentle satire that includes overdubbing of crowd noises taken from some Doors concert recording, is just waiting for that inevitable Redd Kross reunion. "The Choice Is Yours" is an engaging, melancholy toned pop tune carried by firm, propulsive beats and perversely augmented with some Jan & Dean-like backing harmonies smack in the middle. "Malachi Star," co-written by Waddy Wachtel, is another delightful pop nugget. The falsetto vocal in the chorus, which harkens back to Boettcher’s former client Tommy Roe, is the key to it. "I’ve Been Wrong" is a bare -- mostly just acoustic guitars and vocals, with echo -- ballad, sublimely plaintive. This record is truly an overlooked gem. (5/03)

David M. Snyder