Pan Am's recent signing to their new Aussie label was celebrated with more than the usual enthusiasm and people seem to keep reminding me that Pan Am's self-titled album is about to come out; that Pan Am's album is out; that Pan Am's album is being sent to me; that Pan Am's album should be at my office by now...have I listened to it? Okay, okay, I get the message, I'll listen to it! I'm glad I did. At a time when I feel that there's way too much rock in the market - a flood of it - this New Zealand 3-piece have clarified the situation for me: there's not enough good rock in the market; that's the real problem. Pan Am play in one direction: directly in your face. It's not overly heavy, it doesn't have a definite scene to belong to; it isn't being sung by a transsexual; none of the members are sleeping with anyone famous (or at least I don't think so?!)...There’s nothing obvious to Pan Am's appeal as a saleable item. But their appeal is the one thing that should be obvious to us, namely: great songs, honesty and ability. What else do you want? With Supa Sam, Interstate Boy and Superman, the album starts with a bang and should leave most rock fans short of breath. Midway through the tracklisting, the mood becomes a little more melancholy with Natural, a song that had quite a beautiful melancholy feel. But this is definitely a rock album and the respite is only temporary, Song 1 picking up the pace and tracks such as the engine-like Saskatchewan making it perfectly clear that Pan Am have a definite edge. Once again, with Pan Am's recent move to Melbourne, we've snagged another great New Zealand band (insert evil laugh here) but instead of gloating, I'll point to the obvious: we're always happy when a Kiwi act defects and heads slightly west because it means one more great band is circulating through our live venues and improving the quality of shows. Pan Am will be a fine addition to our much-improved live scene and with an album of this quality, they're sure to gatecrash radio playlists and possibly threaten those pop-drenched Australian charts.

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Tracklisting
1 SUPA SAM
2 INTERSTATE BOY
3 SUPERMAN
4 JAPANESE GIRLS
5 NATURAL
6 SONG 1
7 CIGARS IN THE SUITCASE
8 LONG GRASS
9 WHAT YOU WANT
10 USE SOMEONE
11 SASKATCHEWAN

Full listing of PAN AM releases