Superkala

(Atlantic)

You know when you're driving, and you think you recognize the cute guy in the next car, and you wave and smile ... and it isn't him? And you feel disappointed and embarrassed?

That is what this CD is like. Superkala, the debut CD by the Alabama group Course of Nature, starts out familiar, and just when you think you know the song, they ditch it for too-familiar, alt-rock dirges.

The first song, "Wall of Shame," sounds like that popular, alt-industrial rock song that's everywhere, and then it goes into predictable guitar rhythms. And then you remember that other song wasn't even that good either.

The second song, "Caught in the Sun," begins much like the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris." The melodic acoustics hold interest for 30 seconds, then lead singer Mark Wilkerson tries really hard to be (Creed lead singer) Scott Stapp, and the song unravels in its own uselessness.

At least when Train sings "Drops of Jupiter," the band keeps the celestial theme going and mentions the atmosphere, constellations, the moon and the Milky Way. When Course of Nature sings "Caught in the Sun," it might as well be caught in the macaroni for utter lack of significance and reference to said sun.

Track nine begins very much like Offspring's "Gone Away," but then, instead of Dexter Holland, you get Mark Wilkerson and some more pointless lyrics, "I need to speak to you, hear what you say/But if I breathe too hard, I think I'll go insane."

The CD is a mishmash of pop music. Each song begins familiarly and becomes foolish. "Superkala" is only half of the phrase, and the "fragilisticexpialidocious" is definitely missing.