Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday

Anyone who remembers all those ill-titled albums by the Smashing Pumpkins knows that releases with such high falutin' titles as Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday usually beg to be dismissed as little more than the pretentious, self-indulgent bursts of egocentric musicians. It's a great surprise, then, that Creeper Lagoon's second long-player bucks expectations and actually makes good on the indie rock promise of the band's full-length debut, 1998's overhyped albeit underwhelming I Become Small and Go. And although this release doesn't change the formula of the band's past, the songs here are catchier, smarter, better. Opening with the guitar-driven anthems "Chance of a Lifetime" and "Wrecking Ball," the album immediately sounds so emotionally and sonically overwhelming that it actually lives up to the enormity of the title. It's the more subdued tracks like "Under the Tracks" and "Keep From Moving," however, that prove the band is more than typical rock radio fare. So if you can overlook the absurd title, Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday is nothing less than perfect Creeper territory.