For a band that will never be accused of being too smart for its own

good, Gas Huffer knows something about musical history. The foursome

from Seattle mixes up a range of quotations, familiar hooks, tributes,

stylistic travesties, rarity sendups and "Cro-Magnon rock riffs flirting

in a devil-may-care fashion with various U.S. copyright infringement

laws" in order to craft its trademarked (literally, according to the

publicity materials) Punk Rock Plus (TM).

Just Beautiful Music, a title that nicely demonstrates the band's

penchant for moth-eaten catch phrases (song titles include "You May Have

Already Won," "Bridge to the 21st Century," "Don't Panic," and "Cut the

Check"), plays wittily on influences ranging from the only slightly

reputable (The Ramones, in "Rotten Egg"), to the undeservedly

respectable (80s-era, Replacements-type college rock in "Is That For

Me"), to the completely ridiculous ("The Last Act" may be the first song

that seems to borrow lyric ideas from E.A. Robinson, oom-pah-pah rhythm

and structure from The Doors, and general mood from "Monster Mash"). A

novelty song like "The Surgeons" fits nicely into a tradition of mock,

"Saint James Infirmary"-style musical noir that has one of its greatest rock

exemplars in The Kinks' "In the Summertime." (I use the term "novelty"

guardedly, since these are all to some extent novelty songs).

It sounds like a pretty imposing mental set, but the mentality tends to

be pitched fairly low. In classic bonehead rock style, Gas Huffer knows

the value of keeping it short. Only four of the CD's 16 tracks run

longer than three minutes. For all the self-conscious idea-mongering,

Gas Huffer's overall effect frequently seems like The Presidents of the

United States of America without all the intellectual baggage.

It takes some skill to be intelligently stupid, though, and Gas Huffer

pulls off that trick frequently. The band has a deceptively strong sense

of harmonics -- a guitar hook cleverly echoes the vocal line in the surf

spectacle "Jungles of Guam" - a song about, of all things, a Japanese

soldier who doesn't know the war is over. "Old Man Winter" features some

surprisingly deft vocal harmonies. "The Surgeons" contains some

sophisticated, atonal two-guitar riffs and an atmospheric chord

structure. In the instrumental "The Princess," guitarist Tom Price lets

loose with an unexpected run of whole notes pitched on a spacey-sounding

reverb. "Cut the Check" features a powerful wave of static, expertly

wielded. And every song benefits, from tight, frenetic, but in-control

playing.

And there's something to be said for a band that has its influences

seemingly so well under control. In "Bridge to the 21st Century," the

backup singers let loose with some Searchers-style grace notes that move

the song into the territory of sly parody. That parodic streak

resurfaces in "You May Have Already Won," and in fact throughout the

album, but this band uses pastiche as the icing on the cake. When

elements of parody appear, they're there to add an odd color - pushing a

semi-serious song into satire, or giving a funny song a dryer wit than

it probably deserves. Just Beautiful Music occasionally fails to

be entertaining, but it can be infectious in those moments when the band

(Matt Wright vocals, Don Blackstone bass, Tom Price guitar and Joe

Newton drums) is hitting on all cylinders.

If Punk Rock Plus (TM) adds up to anything, it's a wittily simpleminded

surf music (There may be no other kind). On Just Beautiful Songs

the results aren't always as fun, surprising, or entertaining as they

should be, but as good-time music goes, this is more good time than

most. This album, the band's fifth isn't the work of musical geniuses,

just four guys who are pretty smart at playing dumb. And Gas Huffer

seems to understand this already, in its own underwhelmed assessment of

the album:

"Granted, Just Beautiful Music may not change the face of modern

rock, clear up that skin problem, or make you happy ... BUT IT PROBABLY

WILL!"