LFO: Life Is Good

Initially financed by boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman and mentored by legendary record executive Clive Davis, LFO first emerged with "Summer Girls," a monster hit that raised the pop-culture-damaged stupidity of teen pop to the level of Dadaist poetry. A bizarre, free-associative mixture of Larry King-like observations and seemingly random pop-culture references, "Summer Girls" didn't just address the fleeting joy of the summer; it embodied it in all its shimmering, ephemeral glory. Powered by pretty-boy "rapper" Rich Nice's hypnotically unfunky flow and a fittingly mellow beat borrowed from Extreme's wuss-rock classic "More Than Words," "Summer Girls" is a work of sublime, transcendent idiocy that's about as close to perfection as teen pop gets. Given the song's success, LFO must have been tempted to stay the course and deliver a follow-up rife with retreads. But while Rich Nice threatens, none too menacingly, to kick his "kung-fu style" on "28 Days"—on which he also wonders, plaintively, "What would Jack and Diane do"—LFO's second album plays down straight-up hip-hop in favor of sweetly retro pop that's more akin to Hanson than 'N Sync. Sure, the Brownsville bad boys in M.O.P. pop up on the title track to pour a little Everclear on LFO's cotton candy, but the trio mostly sticks to breezy, feel-good pop, complete with endearingly dopey lyrics, catchy melodies, and the odd harmonica flourish. Nothing on Life Is Good is quite as infectious as the Sugar Ray-style single "Every Other Time," but Nice and company nevertheless recapture much of the naïve charm that made "Summer Girls" so memorable. LFO only falters when it gets too slick or ambitious. The noir-styled narrative "Dandelion" aims for Lou Reed but ends up closer to Marky Mark, while some of Life Is Good's later tracks flirt precariously with generic R&B. The disc isn't likely to convert anyone who thought "Summer Girls" marked a nadir in popular culture. But for those tuned in to the band's charmingly brain-damaged frequency, Life Is Good provides a welcome reminder that pop music is supposed to be, above all, fun.