Normally, I find hippy-dippy, whitebread, feel-good, funk rock pretty nauseating: you know, the kind that bands like the Spin Doctors helped make popular in the early '90s. This was my first impression of Parakeet Nelson, a pseudonym for local songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Cates and his collaborators (which includes the prolific local multi-instrumentalist / indie-rock impressario Hiro Noodles.)

Fortunately, further examination of Parakeet Nelson's debut proved my first impressions wrong. There is far too much genuine rock and roll spunkiness, pop sensibility and goofy humor to simply dismiss this as another groove rock wank-o-rama.

"Good Health" and the instrumental "Pigeon with a Money Riff" indicate this rock and roll spirit especially well. "Egg Sandwich" is an amusing song extolling the virtues of Bojangle's grub. "Paradigm Shifting," featuring the excellent trumpet playing by Mike Elam, is yet another highlight. This is a bright, funky and varied album with a great sense of humor, and it's utterly infectious.