Presidents of the United States of America: II

by Stephen Thomas ErlewineConsidering the speed that their second album was delivered, the Presidents of the United States of America must have known their time in the spotlight was brief. Released exactly a year after "Lump" stormed the charts, POTUSA 2 is just like the group's debut except not as consistently engaging. A few songs have strong hooks to rival those on the debut -- particularly the two-chord rampage of "Mach 5" -- but about half of the album sounds too labored and considered, especially the hyped-up They Might Be Giants homage "Volcano." So, The Presidents of the United States 2 delivers everything that the second album from a one-hit wonder should do: it has a couple of pretty good singles intermixed with a bunch of tolerable filler that plays better as nostalgia than it did when it was currently released.