The Greenhornes, Sewed Soles

The Greenhornes
Sewed Soles
V2 Records

The Cincinnati garage-rock band the Greenhornes certainly keep good musical company. They've finished a world tour with label mates the White Stripes, and Jack White commissioned the rhythm section to play on Loretta Lynn's Grammy-winning comeback album, "Van Lear Rose."

Just rewards for a band that has harnessed the energy of the Kinks and the exuberance of the Animals into nearly a decade-long recording career.

What makes listening to the trio so much fun isn't just their overt homage to the 1960s acts that inspire them, but their immersion in the era of free love. The songs lyrically return to a more innocent view of romance. And with the wonderful primer for the uninitiated, "Sewed Soles," the band captures the highlights from their first three albums.

On a slow-dance number fit for "The Wonder Years," singer/guitarist Craig Fox asks his date on "Shadow of Grief," to "squeeze me now baby/a little tighter/don't you say maybe now/put your arms around me now." The alternate version of "Lovin' in the Sun" shows Fox as someone "who can spend hours grooving on the flowers" behind a backdrop of bouncy acoustic guitars and a rising chorus.

But what would rock be without a little heartache? "I've Been Down" offers Roger Daltrey-vocal soul, and fuzzy guitars power the fierce rhythmic stomp of "Lies" and "No More." A shifty bass line leads guest vocalist Holly Golightly through the winter of her romantic discontent on "There Is an End," as "spring brings the rain/with winter comes pain/every season has an end."

Surely old-school music snobs will gripe about the familiar sounds from listening to the collection. But unlike the Strokes or the Hives, the Greenhornes continue to succeed where their garage-rock contemporaries often fail in articulating their influences into meaningful tunes.