Steve Bays has to be the luckiest singer in recent post-punk rock history - not the best - just the luckiest. His band produces music that cradles and propels and encourages the best vocals Bays can offer. With a voice that would get grating without this quality in the background, Bays would be just another wannabe garage band screamer. The music is incredibly full for a CD that sounds anything but overproduced.

Everything’s catchy and immediately forgettable. Perfect for rock music in my opinion. “Running Out of Time” takes the people we all recognize and then gives us a little deeper look inside - and what’s there ain’t pretty.

“Hollywood waiter with a chip on his shoulder/ Only break has been his back and yet he’s just getting older/ He’s washing his clothes in a sink of self-pity.”

“Pickin’ It Up” is a great shout song with an irresistible beat. Over all, Elevator is a good party CD, more sing-along-with than many honest Canadian rock bands.

But… speaking of honesty, Hot Hot Heat did the nearly unforgivable.

The biggest bitch among people who actually buy CDs, not just burn them from friends, is that the music companies/bands do not provide enough quality listening for the retail price of CDs. Everyone’s bought an $18 CD to find one or, very rarely, two good songs. “Elevator” is different in that respect, the songs are consistent and worth the retail. What made me cranky was that the CD packaging states you’ll get 15 songs for the money. Not true.

No. 1: “Introduction” is listed as a full song - no matter that it’s only 17 seconds long. Hey, even my attention span is longer than that.

As for No. 13, the band is either superstitious - or hoteliers in their past lives - because they blow right to 14 after 12. Not cute. Really. On the disc, it’s a 4 second mosquito-like buzz.

The worst part of this duplicity is that it was unnecessary. Bang out good songs, wait until you have a dozen or so, then record. How hard is that? When you’ve got something good - and Hot Hot Heat seems promising - don’t try to pull it over on your listeners.