*** Ross Rice

UMPTEEN

(E Squared)

Rice, formerly of Human Radio, has come up with a concise collection of hummable pop/rock ditties, the kind of modest but well-crafted songs that one must not praise too faintly. True, Rice is no great shakes when it comes to lyrics -- he lacks a signature quirk like Freedy Johnston's mordant lyricism, Matthew Sweet's pothead ambiguity (though "Wide Awake" comes close), or Nick Lowe's sunny insincerity. But he evokes each of those songwriters on Umpteen, and as normal guys go, he's pretty good. When it comes to the music, he's more than good, having mastered the apt use of the late-Beatles trope enhanced by judicious instrumental choices -- a drugged guitar on "Next to Nothing," a pointillistic piano on "To See All," a rustic mandolin on "Dance Lesson," and so on. Nothing groundbreaking, but the choices are consistently felicitous. It's one of those albums where you feel you've heard it before but are glad you decided to listen again.

-- Richard C. Walls