Lyrically driven music can be a difficult subject. To me it, by and large, conjures up horrific images of acoustic guitars, coffee houses and open mike nights. Music that is middle-of-the-road and generally way too "feel good" for me. Bad music for good people? It’s not as if the idea of lyrics and songwriting are at the back of my priority list. LOU REED, ELVIS COSTELLO, JONI MITCHELL and plenty of other wordsmiths/songsmiths have occupied my stereo. This assemblage of artists from the US, Australia and New Zealand has mostly that lyrical light rock lure mixed with liberal doses of various types of alternative rock.

THE BRIGHTWINGS offer a couple good lines to make up for their boring music. FOURTH FLOOR COLLAPSE has that annoying double snare that so many middle of the road college rock bands overuse. Several tracks later THE DRAMAS use the same drumbeat. FFC’s blatant COLDPLAY via U2 sound may turn music execs heads but does nada for yours truly. STAPLETON’s “Ships Of The North Atlantic” has the music stretching out a bit but it loses steam with it’s monotonous double high hat drums - not enough dynamics. THE WELLINGTONS style of pop has got the perfect Neil Finn (SPLIT ENZ/CROWDED HOUSE) sheen to it. PINE’s “Hosanna” is one of a few titles here with a little bit of dirt under it’s nails. Their New Zealand noise builds nicely. It’s 2 minutes are too short here. JULIAN CORYELL’s “My Generation”, which is not a WHO cover, is very well written and the guitars cascade gratifyingly. REBECCA LOEBE’s “As I Tell You So” has the vocal harmonies to die for. It’s quite possibly one of the best songs here.

AGENT’s metalfunk emo is as out of place here as it is useless. They are NZ’s polar opposite to PINE. THE SCISSOR FILE is an Australian band that sounds like the same crappy US-emo acts that tour though your’s truly’s South Florida region like three times a year. HIGHROAD NO. 28 has got the HELMET drums/guitar motif mixed with some quirky vocals/keyboards. It's kind of goofy yet appealing nonetheless. THE BEAUTIFUL BURN’s “Introduction” could be that lost MARS VOLTA track. THE STRAIN’s STONE TEMPLE PILOTS fixation falls on deaf ears. Trust me guys. “You are not the answer to my prayers” either. The following jazzy JESSICA MCPHERSON track is quite a treat however. It may be more NORA JONES than SUN RA but it will do for now.

Most everything here is so well-produced that the whole thing becomes this bland chore-like procedure for the adventurous listener. That does not mean it’s not without merits. Most of these artists are very mainstream-sounding. This, in and itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. There is some worthwhile material here. Compilations have peaks and valleys that many one artist releases don’t have. Half this music is worth hearing, which is a hell of lot more than I can say for the current Clear Channel dominated commercial radio that I hear ‘round these parts.

- Herring

RELATED ITEMS: HIGHROAD NO. 28 - "Steady and Unsteady State"