Smashmouth: Get The Picture?

The song "Walking On The Sun" set a lot of precedents for the affable California hit machine Smashmouth: It not only gave the band a blueprint for more summertime party smashes, but also paved the way for a parallel career in advertising. When everyguy singer Steve Harwell sang, "So don't delay / act now / supplies are running out," he ensured that Smashmouth's ubiquity would extend beyond movie soundtracks and radio playlists, and into the lucrative field of car commercials. On the new Get The Picture, Harwell and songwriter/ guitarist Greg Camp don't unveil any songs explicating zero-percent financing packages, but that's the only commercial appeal they're missing. Depicted, appropriately, as cartoon characters in the album's packaging, Harwell and company aren't about to deviate from the beach-party vibe here. Just in case the cover of Neil Diamond's "You Are My Number One" (featuring guest toasting from The English Beat's Ranking Roger) isn't enough to light up the charts–where dancehall-flavored pop just happens to be fashionable–Get The Picture runs out the clock with a slightly catchier radio remix. But the album features more than just the one ringer. The most populist anthem about driving this side of "I Can't Drive 55," "105" should light up car radios for months to come, and it's not exactly out of place amid odes to such hard-hitting subject matter as girls, summer, fun, and individuality. Gleefully inconsequential and instantly dated (complete with the occasional pop-culture reference and a mention of 2003), Get The Picture breezes by without a moment of tension or trouble. It's hard to get excited about it, but just as difficult to dislike it.