I really didn't want to listen to this album because the cover is such an outright offense to the eyes. It's just a big red button labeled "Push". It's a good thing I let the music speak for itself, though, because otherwise I'd have missed a very entertaining album of seventies-inspired power pop. While traces of Sloan and ELO are here for the finding, the most apparent influence is Sloan. The band's theme song, "Pushing Red Buttons", definitely takes a stroll down Sloan Street, as does opener "What's Good for You". The latter, however, also features a very un-Sloanlike heavy metal guitar solo that would probably make Slash shit his pants.

The songwriting isn't always topnotch, but the band gets by on their goofy charm and earnest cheer. They're also full of surprises. "It's a Really Happy World" sounds like something you might hear on a Saturday morning cartoon -- I mean, can't you hear the Banana Splits singing lyrics like, "It's a really really really really really really happy world / for me and you / and your friends too"? "Squares", which features a Pretty Things-like chorus and odd lyrics about the virtues of being uncool, is also a highlight -- there's even a part where a guy comes in and says, "Hey baby, wanna go to a dance?" To which a girl replies, "What kind of a dance? A square dance?" And the guy says, "No. Yeah." Excuse me?

The band seems to love mixing its seventies reference points -- perhaps that's why Pushing Red Buttons reminds me of Klaatu, the mysterious band that incorporated an alien mix of Broadway, prog, and pop-psych into their cartoonish sound. That should be taken as a compliment, because many people thought that Klaatu were actually the Beatles in disguise -- their songwriting was that good. Their album covers, however, were much better than this.