It's the oldest trick in the power pop book, but it still works every time: You open the album with a clenched fist and a snarl, and then quickly follow it up with a pop hook that opens like a quick-blooming flower. Wham, bam -- instant catharsis, and the listener is all yours. Assuming, of course, that hook is good enough, and this one is, barely. Also assuming you can follow it up effectively for another 35 minutes or so, and
Last Conservative does that as well, handily. The iron fist that opens the album is the title track, and the sweet relief comes in the form of "Can't Get Away From You," a bittersweet, passive-aggressive paean to a lost love that may or may not be a song about stalking her. Everything else follows in more or less the same vein, balancing muscular guitar and average-guy vocals with subtly sweet melodies and hooks that sneak up on you and grab you by the collar when you aren't expecting it -- like the one on the gorgeous, guitar-and-organ-driven "Anything but Goodbye." Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson