Okay, let’s add this up: three cute blonde singers, all named Lauren. Good. They’re supposed to be a band, but they actually can’t play a lick, so Teenacide head honcho Jim Freek lays down all the amped-up, sunshine-soaked ‘60s power pop behind them. Also good. Excellent, even. The Laurens do sing, though and sound like a surfer’s wet dream, offering up honeyed and oh-so-slightly morose harmonies on an eclectic cross-section of beach-themed tunes, ranging from Red Kross’s “Annette’s Got the Hits” and The Undertones’ “Here Comes the Summer” to the BMX Bandits “Nuclear Summertime” and the Bay City Rollers’ sugar-flaked “Summer Love Sensation.” Pretty awesome all around, I’d say. Oh, and the whole thing wraps up with an unlisted swing through the Shangri-Las’ teen bummer epic, “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” that literally floats on a bed of cotton-candy-colored teen angst. Amazing stuff. If this isn’t blasting from your crappy speakers this summer, you’re a godless Communist, and that, simply, is that.
 __________________________________________________

-Paul Gaita