Goodness me, this record is fantastic, though I probably should be run from the hardcore ‘scene’ for remotely digging it all. For the Mother Hips have conjured up a masterpiece of tuneful pop music, and they’ve taken all the right influences and styles to pull it off big time. It’s a pretty varied record too. Sometimes you get the more chuggin’, straight-ahead, pop rock of a song like “Life In The City”. A leaf taken straight out of the impressive pop copybooks of recent bands like Umajets (the band they most remind me of - similar fantastically smooth vocals!) and Fountains of Wayne (so sue me, they rock!), with has a Beach Boys-y influence thrown in for good measure (it’s the backing vocals). And the chorus is extremely similar to a Wildhearts song I can’t place my finger on. Replete with sunny melodies, this is drivin’ music for the less hard rock inclined. At other times they resort to simply awesome melodic pop stuff, “Pull Us All Together” coming replete with a destructively catchy chorus. Two of the more rockier tracks crop up towards the end, with the groovin', Wilco-esque "Smoke" (they even mention them in the song [and check out the kick-ass stoner finale!]) and the pacy "Rich Little Girl" just adding to the undeniable quality of this record. And then there is the more subtle, slowed down tunes of the likes of “Take Us Out”, which sounds super familiar, but I’m lost again for a reference, probably some obscure record from the 60’s that my parents own. Rest assured, it’s a rather fine track. And then the album winds down on "Seaward Son", which just oozes a Beatles vibe. Great way to round off this thing.

I have to say that only part of the record that really bemused me was when they open up “Channel Island Girl” with Bee Gees-esque vocals. Luckily it evolves into a gorgeous pop song relatively quickly. Phew.

No idea how many of you reading would find that this appeals to you, but I like it a lot. A slice of fantastically written, classic pop music that makes for a great change of pace from pretty much everything else I’ve been listening to lately. Classy, nothing less.