*** Smash Mouth

ASTRO LOUNGE

(Interscope)

The organ-laced single "Walkin' on the Sun" -- a song that sounded so much like some lost 45 from the '60s that Lenny Kaye forgot to mention on Nuggets that "?" jokingly took credit for writing it when the Mysterians played Boston a few months ago -- may have been somewhat of a glaring anomaly on Smash Mouth's ska-punk-dominated 1997 breakthrough, Fush Yu Mang (Interscope), but not this time. With Astro Lounge the San Jose band have completed a full sonic overhaul, jettisoning the speedy ska throwaways and passable pop-punk rave-ups that littered Fush Yu Mang and bringing on board half a dozen more tunes modeled on the groovy mid-tempo goodness of "Walkin' on the Sun" -- from the Phil Specter-style wall-of-sound intro (think "Then She Kissed Me") that kicks off the first track ("Who's There") and the classic fuzz-guitar-and-Farfisa combo opening of "Diggin' Your Scene" to the faux exotica of the slinky space-out "Satellite" and the Lyres-style guitar hook of "Defeat You." The disc is padded with some unexceptional reggae jamming (or ska slow and stoned enough to pass for reggae). But it's the relative abundance of those criminally catchy retro romps that makes Astro Lounge such a surprisingly satisfying follow-up.

-- Matt Ashare