Sugardrive. Hey, OK, so I have a partiality towards bands or songs that namecheck me like Bob Mould's group and the Archies' song (so sweet they named it twice!), so these ous haved cheered me up already, although the "drive" part nearly has me heading off to listen to this in my car while barrelling along the ocean road except my battery's being fixed so I stay put and listen further. First track starts and suddenly my cellphone rings so I pause the CD and reach for my cell. Hang on, I don't have a cell. Must be my imagination. Back to the music. It happens again and I twig that these jokers have put a ringing cellphone on the first track of their CD. I'm in a better mood already as I can just picture all the yups listening to this and jumping around when they hear the ringing. (That'll teach them to switch those things off when they're doing something important!) Not much of a song, though, as it just has someone talking on the phone with dialling and some soft music in the background. Then 'Ten Feet High' moves in with some taut percussion and killer bass and vocalist Paul E Flynn creepily asking me if I'm having a bad day before telling me that it's getting better. He's not kidding! Sixty one minutes later Sugardrive have not only turned my day around but actually left me a drooling wreck.

'Sand. Man. Sky.' is Sugardrive's third album and by far their most accomplished offering. It's got Ozzie knob-twiddler Reggie Bowman, a legend in the making, behind the desk, and together they have crafted an album that is going to be the yardstick by which all future SA rock albums are going to be judged. One after another the great songs just line up to be "liked and then loved". 'Wired', 'Road', 'Girl You Make Me Bad' and 'Michaelangelo's Holding Hands', which includes the great seduction line: "Let's get married from the waist down." Their previous album, 'Hey God! It's Me Again' was an unholy and annoying racket but this is its antithesis: clean and clear production where even the squealing guitars and noisy bits make perfect aural sense. So, stand up and take a bow, Michael Westwood (guitars, keyboards, piano and cellphone, ho, ho), Gareth Mcleod (drums and percussive stuff), Gavin Wienand (bass), guest Nudie trumpeter Adriaan Brandt and singer Paul. I don't know what the title's about but this is a bloody great album. And though I don't normally give scores, 'Sand. Man. Sky.' gets 10 out of 10 and a gold star. Buy this today!!!! (Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman)

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Allison Simkiss / Fetish management fetish@iafrica.com Or phone Allison at 021-618 120 The CD costs R79.99 plus R12.00 postage.