I finally bought the album on Saturday. Really good stuff. Fun and funky. I skip the "ballads," but I guess if I were driving around Orange County they might sound good. There's enough rocking upbeat material to make me proud of my purchase. It's very well packaged, but strangely, I don't have that icky filmy aftertaste I normally have in my mouth when I listen to overproduced slick slack. Me like.