If this popular Toronto outfit is looking to build on the success of its 1998 U.S. breakthrough Stunt, it should have no problem with this decidedly grown-up-sounding, smart collection of pop music that hits stores Tuesday.

Working with producer Don Was (Rolling Stones, The B-52s, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop and Paul Westerberg) has helped frontmen-songwriters Steven Page and Ed Robertson seriously hone their craft.

Or maybe it's just the passage of time that has allowed that process to occur naturally.

Whatever. The highlights here are numerous.

Sophisticated pop songs such as Too Little Too Late, Never Do Anything, Go Home, Falling For The First Time, Humour Of The Situation and Baby Seat could all be radio hits. They sure beat the weak first single Pinch Me.

Page and Robertson have written a great make-out song in the disguise of an office romance story with Conventioneers: "Now we're in the bath / I'm already thinking marriage / Know that in the past / It was something I disparaged / You turn out all the lights and lit the candles / We rolled around in robes and hotel sandals," Page croons.

But it's the awe-inspiring, cinematic dig at Hollywood complete with harp and operatic backup vocals -- Sell Sell Sell -- that gets my vote for album standout.

"The week of the Independence Day, the casting agent called to say, 'Your smile could save our movie and the world,' " Page sings with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

A close second is the darkly humorous Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel.

Right now, the Ladies are set to kick off their Maroon tour in Detroit on Sept. 22, with a rumoured date at the Air Canada Centre on Nov. 24.

Track Listing 1. Too Little Too Late
  2. Never Do Anything
  3. Pinch Me
  4. Go Home
  5. Falling for the First Time
  6. Conventioneers
  7. Sell, Sell, Sell
  8. Humour of the Situation
  9. Baby Seat
  10. Off the Hook
  11. Helicopters
  12. Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel
  13. Hidden Sun (Bonus Track)