Better Than Ezra proved in the mid-'90s that it had no problem with going the radio-rock route. The New Orleans trio's mainstream-oriented pop-rock aimed right at the very core of the drive-time FM listener with songs like "Good," which established the band in 1995 as a pop powerhouse.
But while its star was bright, it was also brief. The band recorded two more records for Elektra after Deluxe -- the similarly competent but less hooky Friction, Baby and How Does Your Garden Grow -- before being dropped by the major and setting off on a course that was more like an independent-study course. The band released records on its own Web site and signed one-off contracts with steadied labels such as Sanctuary and Artemis, the latter of which is home to the band's current release, Before the Robots.
While the band experimented briefly in electronic and hip-hop, its current record is a return to the adult-angled pop that made it famous -- and after receiving multiple high-profile favorable reviews, it very well may be the album that relaunches the band's career.