This doesn't prevent me from respecting Seymour's talent, or liking the music. It's just that following the lyrics cuts down on that enjoyment.

The band on the three Dixielandish live tracks is so energetic and fun, and Seymour's singing so sprightly, that after three listens they've emerged as my favorite tracks. "Signs How This Ends" and "The Gift" are especially good.

Hear MP3s at Erin Sax Seymour's Myspace page.

Spanic Boys, Sunshine

On the heels of the new Bill Kirchen CD comes another Telecaster blast, this one from the father-and-son team known as the Spanic Boys. Their new, heavily Beatles-influenced set focusses as much on the duo's close vocal harmonies as on their dueling Fender guitars. Like many family singers, their melded voices can sound almost supernaturally in synch, rather like the Everly Brothers, but they do more sliding around, which makes for slightly weird effects.

Many of the songs - all written by the Spanics - seem expressly written to feature their vocal harmonizing, sometimes at the expense of other important aspects of songwriting, like dramatic effect and hookiness. Songs that transcend that limitation include the slow waltz "What Will You Do," whose harmonies suggest both the early Eagles and the Byrds' version of "Satisfied Mind."

"Secret" sounds like a lost, slow Beatles track if Robbie Kreiger had been invited to play a guest guitar solo. There's not much to the song itself, but the sound is like a slow burn from the underworld. The title track is essentially a tribute to specific Beatles sounds and songs, especially "Rain," to which it might be construed as an answer. As we reviewers can get tired of saying, you could do a lot worse than to use the Beatles as a touchstone, if you can get away with it. The Spanic Boys aren't remotely the songwriters the Beatles were, but their expression of the deeply layered mid-period Beatles guitar sound is sure.

Our heroes can't entirely avoid coming across a bit academic. But at least it's the Ivy League. And it's not all Beatles all the time. My favorite tracks are "Bigger Fool Than Me," a two-minute snarl of 1960s rock and roll power, and the raw garage-rocker "Broken Wheel."

"Didn't Love You Anyway" is hard-edged country rock of the sort those pesky Beatles coopted decades ago for songs like "Dr. Robert," and the CD closes with the jittery, bass-and-drums-driven "You Don't Worry Me," which effectively grafts the Spanics' trademark, lazily moving harmonies onto a fast, insistent beat.

MP3 clips here.