STEEERIKE!!! Fastball's debut album All The Pain Money Can Buy is an unqualified pleasure from the top of the First to the bottom of the Ninth. This Georgia Trio offers up a wealth of fun, straight-forward, Power-pop that stands beside SuperGrass and Pearl Jam as the most thoroughly likable albums of the calendar year.

Perhaps not as inventive as SuperGrass, Fastball's songwriting is more mature, and unlike almost any album you can name, there's not a foul ball in lot. The liner notes inform us that it's Poe singing harmony on "Which way to the top" and more interesting is that songwriters Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga, alternate as writer and lead vocalist on every other song. (I've probably listened to it fifty times and I thought there was only one singer).

At their best they sound like Rubber Soul/Revolver era Beatles--at their worst they sound like good Matthew Sweet. With a few of the tracks borrowing from powerfolk bands such as Buffalo Tom and the Jayhalks. Their lyrics are smart and their tunes full of catchy hooks that you'll be singing along with right off the bat.

Trust me on this one, folks--if you're low on dough and don't know which pitch to throw--stay with the hard stuff. Fastball smokes.