What do you think of when you hear the term “Gorgeous Hussies?”

I don’t know about anyone else, but I certainly don’t think about young, scantily-clad women out for action. I think of a rock band from Salt Lake City.

The three-man outfit recently released what could be called a debut album of sorts. The album, “Sweet Surrealistic Queen,” is the first album released and distributed by the Hussies since signing with national distributor Slothrop Music. According to the group’s Web site, the Hussies have been acclaimed as the “hardest working self-promoting band out of Utah.” The site also states that the group is catching onto the college scene; more than 150 college stations across the nation have put the Gorgeous Hussies into rotation.

The Web site advertises the first four tracks of the album for good reason; they’re the best tracks on the album. All the questions I had about what style of music I would hear from the Hussies were answered in the first five seconds of the track. The Hussies are an alternative rock outfit with a flair for grunge. I won’t speak for them as to who influenced their music but, if I had to guess, I would say Sum 41, Simple Plan, Weezer and The Beatles. The Hussies use many strong guitar riffs but vary the album with piano, acoustic guitar, unconventional percussion and strong lyrics.

The lyrical genius and musical skill of the Hussies collide in the third song of the album, “Pop Chanteuse.” This song has the best hook of any on the album and is the band’s ticket to glory if one exists for it. The subject matter of the lyrics is a young lady who many have heard of. She once was a Mouseketeer, eventually deciding she’d try singing for a living, busted the big time with several No. 1 tracks, eventually lost her mind, shaved her head, had two kids, got married then divorced and made a modest rebound into music. Sound familiar?

The album starts off fairly well. The first track, “Weigh it Out,” is different than most album openers. Halfway through, the music terminates and goes silent for about half a second, and then the Hussies pick right back up where they left off with another round of chorus. This technique is not one I’ve heard in most album openers and, really, I think it detracts from the single. However, the song has a terrific hook in its chorus and overall is a strong rock track.

I cannot fault the Hussies for stupid lyrics. The lyrics for the second track, “In our Basement,” are brilliant. The lyrical objectivity is similar to Good Charlotte’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” but while Good Charlotte’s lyrics are extroverted and critical of the rich, the Hussies focus on their own band and their own problem and directly criticize no one.

The reason why this band is not purely a punk-rock band is because over half its album is soft rock or alternative polk-style music. I find the variety confusing. I don’t know where to put the album in my collection. On the one hand, I can’t fault the Hussies for being homogeneous, but on the other I do fault them for being extremely deceptive. I was convinced this would be a punk-rock album through three tracks. Well, I was wrong.

After “Pop Chanteuse,” the band takes a hard left into folk land for two tracks. “Harder Now to Recognize” and “Thinkin’ About Getting Back Home” took me completely by surprise. Musically, the songs are decent, but they really detract from the style the Hussies had going up until then. About halfway through “Thinkin,’” the band recovers with a female singer and some good use of the electric guitar. However, I think these two songs are the worst of the album because they confuse the listener and are musically weaker than the songs that book-end them.

The rest of the album is chock full of variety. A fast-paced punk song is followed by what could be confused by a Beatles cover. That, in turn, is then followed by a song that gets me thinking that I’m listening to the Cameron Rafati album I reviewed a couple months ago. The band wraps up with two soft alternative songs with an upbeat tempo. I get awfully confused by the musical selection. The style and tempo the Hussies employ through the rest of the album is so different from song to song that any glimpse of continuity is utterly destroyed in an instant. Rather than an album, the Gorgeous Hussies have put together a collection of singles compatible with a myriad of musical genres. I give “Sweet Surrealistic Queen” album a B. I’m keeping “Pop Chanteuse” and “Weigh it Out” and leaving the rest of the album by the wayside. – la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu