THE KICKS - HELLO HONG KONG

Shit! This is something I should like. Look, The Kicks\' publicity machine compares them to the likes of Fountains of Wayne (who I clearly dig) and Foo Fighters (another fave or yours truly). And I guess I can kind of hear those influences. Uh... maybe. Well, not Foo Fighters. At all. But I digress.
So why did I use the \"s\" word and say I \"should\" like it at the start of this review? I don’t know! This album, Hello Hong Kong... it’s all competently done. It’s hooky. I’m listening to the rockin\' power-pop, but, well, I’m not even hearing it! It’s totally in the background. It’s so damn generic to me.
Instead of Fountains of Wayne, I would’ve compared them to blander fare like The All-American Rejects or American Hi-Fi. Not really bad bands, either-- though, curiously, both use \"American\" in their names, which is suspect. The Kicks are just uninteresting and uninspired to my floppy listening ears.
But, to end this Reading Rainbow-style: \"Don’t take my word for it.\" Go to their site, and sample some of the tunes yourself.