Russell Simins has that Grand Royal halo around his head, which means he gets to live the life of every suburban hipster's dreams: play drums for a loud, funky rock band (the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), interview "Weird Al" Yankovic and Clyde Stubblefield (for Grand Royal Magazine), make a vastly underrated side-project record with the women from Cibo Matto (Butter 08), and crank out a solo album when things slow down. What was it Ice-T said about pimping? Oh yeah, "Somebody gotta do it."

Simins probably deserves it. But while he can indeed drum, and knows how to play hardball with Weird Al, he's not much of a singer. In small doses, this isn't a huge problem, in part because Simins seems aware of his limitations. With Butter 08, he also enjoyed the luxury of having Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda chime in mightily on the choruses (check "Butter of 69"). But when playing frontman for an entire record, Simins' limitations as a vocalist loom too large to ignore. His flat, lifeless voice keeps all of these songs from greatness.

In Simins' favor, there's nice pacing to the album between the rock tracks and those that draw inspiration from rare-groove-style soul. When the '70s-derived sound comes together just right, Simins gets funky like the Steve Miller Band. (If that statement seems ridiculous, you've never heard Rob Swift working two copies of "Jungle Love.")

Like Miller, Mr. Simins is making Good Time Music, with songs about hanging out and partying. With bisexual girls. Exhibit A: there's a song here called "Cookies and Cream." Not aiming very high, true, but there are a few musically sharp moments around. The opening drumbeat and string sample on "I'm Not a Model" are off the best page of the Automator's playbook, and the badass hip-hop rhythm of "Scope" is loose and irresistible. One of the more interesting things about Simins is the way his drumming has been influenced by hip-hop loops, and "Scope," in particular, would work perfectly as a beat on the next in the Toasted Marshmallow Breaks series.

So, the funk is cool, and the loose rock is okay, but the harder stuff on Public Places is only fair. The best tracks of this type would sound decent on modern rock radio, for whatever that's worth. As a whole, the record isn't one of Russell Simins' or Grand Royal's proudest offerings, but I bet it was fun to hang out and make.

-Mark Richard-San