Conceivably, laddish London-based pop pin-ups Busted (or Charlie, James and Mattie as our daughters-with-attitude would have it) are what evil, plan-hatching marketing men ought to have in mind if they decided the music world needed to be taken over by a milk-toothed, mind-yer-"p"s-and-"q"s version of Blink 182. However, worrisome mums (or should that be "moms"--after all, car boots are "trunks", arses are "asses" and boyfriends get "dissed" not chucked in Busted"s transatlantic teen-world) will find the lack of lyrical references to farting and fornication somewhat moralistically reassuring, although the peeping Tom confessions of hit single "What I Go to School For" and sexual fantasies about Britney ("I"ll make you feel good inside") suggest that Busted"s under-the-mattress porno stashes have yet to be dispensed with. Looking beyond the half-baked bad-boy image and linguistic schizophrenia, what you have here is three young guys with talent, tunes (they write their own, y"know), a decidedly English cheekiness, angry (well, perhaps slightly more cross than usual) guitars and--when they get it right--a hilariously understated way of conveying the calamity of a teenage social life ("I asked you to dance at the disco ... but you said no"). If only they could ditch the soppy ballad stuff and be done with it. --Kevin Maidment

• Artist: Busted
• Format: Audio CD
• Genre: Pop, Pop Rock

• Model Number: MCD 60084
• Dimensions: 12.29 x 14.4 x 0.99 cm; 100.07 g