Ted Leo & the Pharmacists -- Living With the Living

Ice cream sundaes and sunshine. Lollipops and warm breezes. Ted Leo has this inherent knack for producing albums dripping with an entreating Pop sensibility that repeatedly transports me to some kind of idealistic summer setting. Along with his group of Pharmacists, he assembles album after album of titillating Pop gems directed accordingly by soothing, pitch-perfect vocal melodies. The group's previous effort, Shake the Sheets, was touted by yours truly as being one of the best albums of 2004, and Ted Leo wisely opted against abandoning his Pop-song blueprint when composing the group's most recent venture, Living With the Living. Fine with me. While I don't feel like the new album maintains the same level of intensity as some other Ted Leo records, greater space is allotted for experimentation around the prototypical yet inspired instrumental and vocal hooks of Leo's smart Pop. For instance, "The Lost Brigade," a seven-and-a-half minute dirge enveloped by an array of atmospheric instrumental accompaniment, is seamlessly followed by the genuine, jab-to-the-face poposity (that's right, I made that word up) of "The World Stops Turning." Any gripes I might have with Living With the Living are trivial in the end because Ted Leo always knows how to get the job done right. Roll down the windows and bob your head. (Kevin Warwick) Grade: A-