After a brief, disappointing tour of the majors via Rick Rubin's American Recordings, The Mother Hips have returned with what can only be called a "sparkling" new album. The Hips, who have a large and growing cult following in California and beyond -- they were featured in February on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle's Datebook section, a widely read arts and entertainment guide -- also have the songs and the drive to considerably expand that fan base. Green Hills of Earth, like Wilco's Summerteeth, combines pop melodies, golden harmonies and sterling production to create an album that's at once evocative of the past and utterly contemporary. "Try try try try try not to hate me / Love love love me and my faults / Don't you underestimate me...", goes the chorus of "Pull Us All Together", and it's hard to argue with such a straightforwardly passive-aggressive plea.

The list of classic rock influences to be found here could go on for a paragraph, but the Beach Boys, the Beatles and the Kinks are a few of the most obvious. There's more than a whiff of alt-country in these songs as well, and the album stands as a close relation to the aforementioned Wilco, who are in fact given a musical and lyrical nod in "Smoke". But highlighting the debt The Mother Hips owe to other, older bands grows pointless once the songs themselves begin to sink into your subconscious. You'll soon find yourself humming along to the pure pop of "Channel Island Girl", and might even pull out your air guitar for the (relative) stomper "Rich Little Girl". Girls -- some from the past, others yet to come -- obviously play a significant lyrical role here. "All summer long, you have been the only person in my song," as "Channel Island Girl" puts it.

Some of the songs run out of steam before attempting to grasp beyond their modest reach: The gentle piano that opens "Protein Sky" leads to a slow- to mid-tempo rhythm that remains essentially unchanged for the duration of the song, while a great title doesn't hide the same trick recurring later with "Sarah Bellum." These are just quibbles, though. For fans of complex, multilayered pop, Green Hills of Earth offers treats too numerous to mention. For the Hips themselves, it could be another shot at the big leagues.