Simple Plan - Still Not Getting Any...

Inevitably labeled "pop punk," Simple Plan's sophomore album finds the Montreal quintet settling in as a straight-ahead rock band. Yes, lyrically, their concerns remain grounded in the adolescent petulance and alienation of classic punk. They're "the ones you love to hate." "You don't know what it's like to be me," they insist. "We're the kids that you pushed away," they huff. Musically, however, the follow-up to 2002's popular No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls finds the band moving toward a strain of radio-friendly rock that owes less and less to the punk canon. Opener (and album highlight) "Shut Up!" "Me Against the World," and "Perfect World" boast sweeping choruses and Pierre Bouvier's spit-in-your-eye vocals. But strings creep into "Welcome to My Life" and the closer, "Untitled," is a heart-on-his-sleeve piano lament that owes more to Night Ranger than the Ramones. This one will appeal to fans who prefer the "pop" side of the "pop punk" equation. --Steven Stolder