Hey!Album Review

Gail Worley
CD Now

Marvelous 3
Hey! Album
(Elektra)

What's missing from this Atlanta trio's major label debut is a warning sticker on the cover: "Not for Diabetics."

Loaded with enough big, sugary power-pop hooks to make teeth ache and energy levels sore to the giddiness of kindergartners, Hey! Album establishes Marvelous 3 as a band with its musical sensibilities firmly grounded in the bubble gum domain.

Marry this addictive formula to contagious, guitar-driven tunes barbed with sharp-witted lyrics musing over failed relationships and all it needs for shoe-in success is some kind of a gimmick, right?

It's providential, to say the least, that the band is possessed of a ridiculously handsome lead singer/guitarist in Butch Walker, whose dark, tousled hair, chiseled features and arms full of what can only be called impressive tattoos throws him into the ring in the battle for best looking pop star/frontman since Adam Ant. Once MTV gets hold of one of its videos, it will be all over but the shouting.

Granted, it's a major stretch to believe that babes are stomping on Walker's heart at the steady clip evidenced by songs like "#27" (please see the Eagles' "New Kid in Town"), the sweetly vindictive "Write it on Your Hand" and the earnest, heart-tugging pleas for release from emotional bondage of "Let Me Go."

It's Walker's sense of humor and Marvelous 3's skin-tight delivery that sanction this obvious ploy to get little girls to buy their records; the songs speak for themselves. "Freak of the Week" subconsciously lifts the riff from "So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star," while poking fun at fame-not-yet-realized. Walker's tongue is firmly wedged in cheek as he cheerily goes on about getting sex for free, but having to pay a woman to listen to him: "Talk about rock stars and models on dope/and how I can't cope with this scene" ("Every Monday").

His appealing voice flexes impressively from a soaring falsetto to a crisp, soulful belt. And he deserves a high-five for pulling off the line "You know that I suck at this/And you suck at it too" on "Vampires in Love."

Will Marvelous 3 live up to their lofty moniker? Time will tell. For now, Hey! Album is something tasty to chew on.