Pointed Sticks

The Phoenix-like return of Vancouver, BC's Pointed Sticks reaches its zenith with this, the band's first LP since their 1980 debut. Having exhausted ― at least in their minds ― the reunion gig circuit, the quintet saw fit to finally follow through on the potential they displayed on Perfect Youth all those years ago. Picking up where the "My Japanese Fan" seven-inch left off back in 2007, they've stripped away all the new wave-isms that were so en vogue during their original run to become the lean, mean power pop machine they were always destined to be. Opener "She's Not Alone Anymore" certainly proves that the band still have some of the brattiness of their youth. But subsequent tracks, like "Sentimental Fool" and the descending minor chords of "Scrambled Eggs," reveal a punk band equally inspired by the Beatles as the Buzzcocks. Like their debut, Three Lefts Make a Right isn't a groundbreaking record. Instead, it's the album's eccentricities rather than its originality that carry it to greatness.