Considering the speed that their second album was delivered,
the Presidents of the United States of America must have known their time in the spotlight was brief. Released exactly a year after "Lump" stormed the charts,
POTUSA 2 is just like the group's debut except not as consistently engaging. A few songs have strong hooks to rival those on the debut -- particularly the two-chord rampage of "Mach 5" -- but about half of the album sounds too labored and considered, especially the hyped-up
They Might Be Giants homage "Volcano." So,
The Presidents of the United States 2 delivers everything that the second album from a one-hit wonder should do: it has a couple of pretty good singles intermixed with a bunch of tolerable filler that plays better as nostalgia than it did when it was currently released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine