Starting off with "Who Are You?," your attention will quickly be earned as the soft cymbals and the dancing bass start to climb into the song. Soon a hooky guitar twirls into the picture, and by this time you'll be very interested in what is going to happen next. I know, because within the first thirty seconds of this disc they already had me attentively listening and waiting for them to through more juicy hooks my way. And they do. Keeping the pace energetic, they always find a hook and showcase it to the listener. "Change For The Better" lets you down a bit, with a heavy guitar playing the part of the neighbor who just opens your door and plops his butt down on your couch, treating himself to a beer and some food in your fridge, waiting for you to get home. But after two minutes they ditch the thick sliced guitar and give you a nice pop atmosphere full of hooks and catchy melodies. "Missing Piece" grabs your attention from the beginning, diving right into some bouncy pop ear candy. From there they slide into a hook and mellow out the tone of the song, leaving a soft melody to emphasize the vocals and the story they're telling as it absorbs straight into the listener. After that they turn up the volume and fill your speakers with more energy-intense melodies, but your mind is now tuned into the lyrics and the story they carry. Helping to bring the lyrics home, they throw hooks around like they were nothing, getting you to both sing along and think about everything all at once. Next up is my favorite track on the disc, "Radio Listener," a song that will be easily understood by the bands' core audience. With lines like "Your favorite bands are overplayed now, it's all because of the stupid radio. $12 for a five dollar show," you start to sympathize with the band. Relating to everything they have to say, and with lots of help from their infectious way of getting their message out, you once again start singing along with them. Another album stand out is "Neapolitan Girl," so strong and melodic you can't help but wonder how well this number would do on commercial radio. My guess is that this song could beat out a lot of the platinum selling artists for many radio shows number one slot. Ending with "Sweet Dreams: The Further Adventures Of Captain Goodnight," they sort of let the listener down with a mostly instrumental number that just doesn't have the hooks and addictiveness of their other songs.

Teen Heroes have cooked up a very addictive, enticing, and overall very powerful album at a very young stage for a band. Watch out for these guys, because they're going to be big. If majors aren't all over these "kids" in the coming months, there is something seriously wrong with them. I'll give this album an A-.

Ted Nugent: Craveman

Teenage Fanclub: Man-Made

[Issue Nine // June 1998]