Before the Robots

Better Than Ezra

As of May 2005, it's been 10 years since Better than Ezra bounded up the charts with the unsinkable hit "Good," which is just about long enough for modern rock fans--especially the ones who picked up 2001's crummy Closer--to mentally file the band in a "moment has passed" category. With the release of Before the Robots, though, comes the need to reshuffle the played-out deck. The first single, a re-done "Lifetime," effectively rescues a really good story-song from potential oblivion by sending in an un-soupy acoustic guitar and Kevin Griffin's more inspired vocal; "A Southern Thang" tips a straw hat to the Louisiana swamps the band emerged from with a rip-it-up riff; and the aptly titled "Juicy" chugs along a funkified track that veers daringly close to disco. For a threesome on the brink of been-there-done-that, Before the Robots represents a bold but pleasingly poppy rebound. --Tammy La Gorce

Before the Robots Album: