Shakes Shands With Shorty

This may be a debut album, but there's nothing new on display here. From Elvis to Eminem, there stretches a long line of white musicians who have made marketable a sound that African-Americans have already polished to the sheen of high art.

As the sons of producer (Big Star, The Replacements) and musician Jim Dickinson, Luther and Cody Dickinson had already cut their musical teeth in a variety of roots, blues and rock bands before drafting in bassist Chris Chew to make NMAS complete.

Shake Hands With Shorty showcases their very proficient take on jazz/blues standards - the likes of 'Sitting On Top Of The World' are reproduced with cheery faithfulness but an utter lack of originality.

Despite the brothers' previous recording with Beck in their alternate existence as Gutbucket, Shake Hands With Shorty allows for nothing of Mr. Hansen's irony. Layers of electric, acoustic and bottleneck guitar and extended instrumentals feature heavily, as does plenty of the time-honoured chorusings of 'baby' and 'woman'.

Of the album's ten tracks, 'Shake 'Em On Down's energy and 'Skinny Woman's amusingly direct lyrics ("I don't want skinny woman/Meat don't shake/ On her bone") impress, as does the consistency of musicianship throughout.

However, without the freshness of approach which is necessary for an act to make cover material their own (think The Fugees and 'Killing Me Softly' or The Pet Shop Boys' 'Always On My Mind'), there seems little point to it all.