It's easy to like Blue Rodeo, because it sounds like a band, not a computer chip. The rhythms are chunky, the keyboards juicy, and the arrangements thick with guitars and vocals. The Canadian group's accomplished ensemble sound has earned comparisons to everybody from the Band to the Byrds. Bob Dylan and Neil Young are among the influences apparent on Blue Rodeo's fourth album, Lost Together.

That's the problem – Blue Rodeo continues to owe more to tasteful expertise than raw inspiration. The instrumentalists are solid, but except for keyboardist Bob Wiseman, nobody exhibits much originality. The two singer-guitarists cover plenty of vocal territory – Greg Keelor's the rocker, while Jim Cuddy's the balladeer – but neither grabs you by the collar. Great songs could make this all irrelevant, but the collaborative tunes by Cuddy and Keelor do little more than ring familiar bells.

"Fools Like You" recalls the electric whine of mid-Sixties Dylan, while the throbbing rock of "Restless" echoes early Elvis Costello. "Angels" suggests Neil Young and Crazy Horse until the wahwah guitar solo adds a dash of Cream's Disraeli Gears. "Western Sixties" is the first song to make me think of Poco in around twenty years. "Willin' Fool" cuts an arty, bohemian figure.

There are probably more good musicians playing pop music today than ever, yet chops can never cover for creativity. That's why it's possible to admire Lost Together but still, somehow, be bored. (RS 648)

JOHN MILWARD