One of the most democratic tenets of rock & roll is that clean-cut and middle-class doesn't necessarily mean uncool. After all, there's a world of difference between Pat Boone and Buddy Holly, between the Lettermen and the Beach Boys, between the Osmonds and the Bee Gees. One is bland and stiff and about as appealing as Cheez Whiz, the other is high-spirited and mobile, with a sense of adventure and a slight hint of menace in its good clean fun and perfect romantic bliss.

Late 1983 didn't exactly seem a propitious time for pop cheer, however. The Top Forty was finally getting loud and funky again. Radio had already heated up with Thriller, and Born in the U.S.A. and Purple Rain were on the way. So when Huey Lewis and the News, a group of Bay Area buddies who looked as if they'd just showered and changed after the weekend softball game, finished their third album in 1983, even the record company had limited expectations. When Sports did manage to muscle its way past the blockbuster competition, to the tune of over six million copies, the band's detractors dismissed it as "jock pop" for yuppies too shallow to appreciate the likes of Bruce and Prince.

But the point of Sports was that jocks could rock, too, and even if hit singles like "Heart and Soul" seemed out of place between "When Doves Cry" and "Dancing in the Dark," they also provided a senses-clearing breath of fresh air. There was something a little incongruous about the songs, and that was their magic: Huey Lewis's gravelly lead provided a gritty contrast to the blanched neo-doo-wop harmonies of the News, who played polished music with barroom-style energy. The underlying impression was that these guys had been around the block a few times, and that made their ideals of friendship (not just acquaintance) and love (not just sex) sound all the more attainable.

Fore! – the band's first album since Sports – might as well be called Sports II, because the good-time style hasn't changed a bit; the band breaks into the same honest sweat without getting too messy. Which is not to say Huey Lewis and the News deliberately try to repeat themselves. They just play the music that's inside of them, and as a result, their sound is as vibrant, as organic as ever. "Hip to Be Square" establishes the stance: "I'm working out most every day/And watching what I eat/They tell me that it's good for me/But I don't even care." In other words, they're self-aware but not self-important. If their lifestyle catches on, they're certainly willing to share it, but they'll never change just to follow a trend.

This good-natured pride permeates Fore! On "I Know What I Like," the band answers its critics – "I like things that don't change/'Cause the more something changes, the more it stays the same." "I Never Walk Alone" updates the Beach Boys' "I Get Around." Just because the boys are men now, with wives and kids and mortgages, doesn't mean they can't still "stick together" and have fun.

The album's keynote song, the leadoff single "Stuck with You," also relies on the band's flair for the unusual little twist. On first listen, it's merely a perky ditty, but catch that title again – it's stuck with, not on (as the real schlockmeister of the Eighties, Lionel Richie, sings), and Huey ruminates over the true ties that bind – having "the same phone number, the same address." It's tongue in cheek and it isn't, but either way, it's got a sense of humor. Any song this catchy better have, and that's what makes "Stuck with You" stick.

The band retains its credibility by taking up some sobering subjects as well. "Simple As That," co-written by Bay Area crony and Tower of Power saxophonist Stephen "Doc" Kupka, pulls no punches: You get old, and all that's left is your wife "and a dog and a cat/It's as simple as that." So simple, in fact, that it's almost parody, bringing to mind Lou Grant's facts-of-life speech to Mary Richards – "We're born, we live and we die." But the vocals are so assured, the horn arrangement so billowy, that you just can't question the song's sincerity.

Both the vocals and the playing maintain this level of confidence throughout Fore! Bill Gibson's drumming is brick solid but never obtrusive. Chris Hayes's guitar mingles like an ebullient party host, and more and more, Huey's lead vocals recall Sam Cooke during his pop days, not because he imitates Cooke or even tries to sound black, but simply because he's got the same disarming charm. It's easy to hear Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" ringing in your head after a few listens to Fore!

Sometimes the charm turns to pure corn, as on "Naturally," an a cappella tune in which Huey enunciates "flowers" like a sixth-grader reading a poem to his first girlfriend. But that corniness, as well as the occasional look at the dark side, comes along with the bond of friendship; you've got to accept idiosyncrasies and imperfections, heartbreak and disillusionment, along with the laughter and community. Huey Lewis and the News may never rise to mythic proportions, but no one makes better "you an' me" music, or offers a more dependable pair of shoulders to carry the weight. And that, after all, is what friends are for. (RS 484)

ROB HOERBURGER