Ear candy for fans of the style

*** (out of 5)

Punk's not dead, it's driving a Mercedes and sleeping with supermodels. I'm single, and I drive a Geo. Punk's doing much better than me. And so are The Offspring. Their bank accounts are big, and I'm sure their legions of adorning females are even bigger, but that's no reason to hate them. Why this band have suffered so much criticism in the wake of their multi- platinum success is beyond me, as I'd take Americana over the vast majority of recent punk releases, although that's kind of like saying I'd rather die in the gas chamber than in the electric chair. Truth is, I'd rather avoid both.

With full-throttle punk scorchers like "Have You Ever" and "No Brakes." Americana is Offspring-by-the-numbers pulled off with all the precision of a band who have done the same thing on four other albums. With songs as infectious as the crabs in a Portuguese cat house, though, this isn'tsuch a bad thing, and besides, as the horrible mock hip hop of the urban-tinged "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" and the equallu lame Caribbean touches on "Why Don't You Get A Job?" prove, experimentation is not the Offspring's forte. But these are only two speed bumps on an otherwise fast and smooth ride with a few twists and turns. The problem is, having heard all this before, I keep nodding off at the wheel.

By Jason Bracelin, from The Associated Press