More Lovin' from Our Oven

While Pansy Division's jokey, tongue-in-cheek lyrics about gay life wear thin after a while, their buoyant pop hooks and high-energy punk rhythms are always uplifting. On its fifth album, the San Francisco trio experiments with heavier sounds (witness "Expiration Date 01/97," one of several tracks produced by Steve Albini) and topics (listen to "Political Asshole"). But there's still a fair amount of shtick, and while some of it works-the old Judas Priest song is retooled as "Breaking the (Sodomy) Law"-tunes such as "Manada" and "Hockey Hair" just aren't very funny after the first few listens. --Jim Derogatis