Similar to
the Brian Jonestown Massacre,
the Lilys have made a career out of impersonating a British band circa 1966. Throughout their seven-year recording life, they've moved from psychedelic to pop experimentalism and now, on
The 3 Way, the group seems to be lifting generously from mod groups like
the Small Faces and
the Action. The fuzz guitar and Farfisa organ of "Dimes Make Dollars" and the affected Anglo singing of "Accepting Applications at University," for example, reek of the British invasion of the mid-'60s. Yet for all his posturing, the group's leader, Kurt Heasley, keeps his influences at bay enough to fill the album with songs that build on the sounds of the '60s rather than just aping them. "Leo Ryan (Our Pharaoh's Slave)," for instance, with its biting string section and saxophone noodlings, is as sophisticated as the very best U.K. pop. ~ Steve Kurutz