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"Love is a bird/It flies where it wants to/It's hard to hang on to/You're gonna get hurt/If you try to cage it/You'll just enrage it/Love is a bird!"

Record these lyrics nowadays, get your ass kicked. Record 'em forty years ago, hit it big! Legend has it that when "Lies" first hit radio, puzzled listeners thought the real culprits, New Jersey frat-rock combo the Knickerbockers, were actually the Beatles recording under an alias. We've come a long way.

In one listen it's easy to understand all the confusion. "Lies," like everything else on the excellent new Rockin' With the Knickerbockers, features just about every hallmark of an early Beatles classic: shout-along choruses, flawless four-part harmonies, dorky lyrics ("Love is a bird!") - all recorded in glorious mono. And like the Beatles, lead vocals (in the rare occasion the band ditched its four-part barbershop harmonies) were handled by several different, uncredited band members (the one handling vocals on "They Ran For Their Lives" sounds eerily similar to a young Joey Ramone). The Beatles rumors must not have helped, since these square-looking gents never replicated the success of "Lies." As hard as they tried, "Love is a Bird" and "Rumors, Gossip, Words Untrue" never quite caught on.

For a seasoned rock snob, this appropriately titled record might be too much of a good thing. Nothing on here holds up to close scrutiny, and several of these tracks can be virtually indistinguishable. "She Said Goodbye," "I Must Be Doing Something Right," and "They Ran For Their Lives" follow the same-tune-different-song approach. A simple perusal of the song titles provides a pretty clear indicator of a given song's chorus.

Luckily, the Knickerbockers wear these criticisms like a badge of honor. When the Knicks hit their cocky stride, they're as strong, and charming, as any of their brethren. "One Track Mind" is one of the great shoulda-been sixties hits (though it did reach the lower echelon of the charts), featuring a catchy-as-hell guitar riff and some fairly impressive production. The exotic oboe that opens "Stick With Me," and the processed vocals on "My Feet Are Off The Ground" point towards an otherwise untapped psychedelic direction. "I Can Do It Better" starts out innocently, evolving into an intense (by Knickerbockers standards) Lennonesque caterwaul.

While the Knickerbockers certainly don't hold a candle to the Byrds, the Beatles, or any other band that rewrote the rules, you're not likely to find another group that followed the rules with such irresistible panache.

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