Oh What a Lovely Pie

Oh What a Lovely Pie is the sound of a band at its creative end, trying, perhaps to keep a torch lit that would prefer to yield to the wind. Perhaps a more appropriate analogy in the Cosmic Psychos case would be trying to keep a bulldozer engine running when it's day is done. Not to say – even for a minute – that the band doesn't have its merits, or that this is a bad album; it's simply to indicate that Oh What a Lovely Pie is the creative nadir of this fine Australian garage punk rock band. The Cosmic Psychos had long relied on playing the simple hand – basic riffs, vocals snarled with an accent and a workingman's attitude, a thumping rhythm section, and some wah-driven guitar leads. Makes for a great rock show down at a small club, and a band like this could play to a rough and ready crowd for decades, but that doesn't always equal good albums. Earlier in their career, the Cosmic Psychos issued some great material – Down on the Farm, Blokes You Can Trust, Go the Hack, and even the one prior to this, Self-Totaled, but this one shows a once proud formula grown tired of its own reflection.