Mr. And Mrs.

Goodbye Girl Friday is the pop-fusion incarnation of a group of Berkelee School of Music graduates who have played together since 1994. The failure of their hyper-academic ethno fusion as pop is unsurprising then, as it is only an experiment of otherwise successful session/jazz/country musicians with little audible understanding of the progression of pop music since reign of Elton John and Stevie Wonder. Theirs is the sort of lame-lipped funk lyricism and contrived musical turns characteristic of Dave Matthews Band but without the occasional pop-tinged winner. Super smooth keyboards push the melody along over crisp walking basslines and leader Dave Sherman's perfect pitched, uninspired nonsensical musings. Even over "Peace Out," a track with a mild Caribbean flare and punctuations of organ, Sherman continues his double-tracked, pedestrian leadership to ruin a potentially funky little jam. His lyrics on songs like "Big Red Bong" rehash the endless illusions to Mary already heaped up in the rock culture that apparently this band missed while woodshedding. It's hard to tell if GGF thought they were creating progressive pop, genuflections at Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, or simply pushing the pop envelope. They should think again or maybe, think less.