Sugar Ray — Sugar Ray

This Southern California band must've taken the hint when their '99 release 14:59 flopped, both critically and commercially. Yet another Sugar Ray hit, "Every Morning," came out of that record but the other 11 tracks took a nosedive into sissy rock-pop territory. On this self-titled fourth release, the band go back to the surf-rock-pop of '97s Floored — when they were successful.

Sugar Ray are the best example of a band selling out as they revamp their image. First they're punk, then they're kinda ska, then they're surf-rock and now, hey, they're surf-rock-pop! I can see what they're trying to do. They don't want to make life-changing, substantial music that makes you think. They want you to pop their CD into your car's disc player, jet down the road on a summer day and just bop the hell out of your head.

Sugar Ray's material only really works when the sun's shining, but when the weather sucks, you just want to use a blowtorch on them. Check out track six, "Ours," which smacks you upside the head with its lazy-assed, sweetly goofy feel. Now if they could only stick to that sound!

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