Fuzzy Little Piece of the World

Most rock bands make reunion albums because they need the money or have nothing better to do, but good or ill finance didn't dictate much in the career of the Pontiac Brothers, and when they decided to give the group one last try in 1992, four years after they split in the wake of the brilliant and largely ignored Johnson, they seemed to be doing it for the best of all reasons — they missed each other, and figured it would be a good time. And they were right — Fuzzy Little Piece of the World, which was written, rehearsed, and recorded within the space of a month, is the musical equivalent of watching some old friends who haven't seen each other in a while swap stories over beers and have a fine old time doing it. Musically, Fuzzy Little Piece of the World doesn't crank quite as hard as most of the group's earlier work (the poppy side of Ward Dotson's musical personality that came out in the Liquor Giants is certainly apparent here), though a few revved-up rockers such as "Feelgood" and the title cut are on hand. And while the band's well-documented sense of humor pops up on tunes like the chaotic "Rockabilly Revolution No. 9 and the ultra-twee Morrissey parody, "Last Saturday," the tone is a bit more downbeat than you might expect. The overall tone is, surprisingly enough, sentimental — friendship is a recurring theme on this album, and on the closing I-miss-my-buddies number, "Being With You," you almost imagine someone would burst into tears if not for being all drunk and giggly. While Fuzzy Little Piece of the World is a real treat for fans of the Pontiac Brothers, it sounds like they made it more for themselves than anyone else; it's the great, heartfelt parting gesture they didn't get to make on Johnson, and anyone who loved their beer-fueled pursuit of a good time will smile right along with this ragged-but-right class reunion.