Vulture Street (2004)

Powderfinger: Australian for rock & roll? Not far off, actually. The fourth release by the Brisbane quintet marks a fine, meat-and-potatoes return to the group's bar-band roots but still buries sharp pop hooks under the riffs. There are echoes of early Radio-head, but what really seems to get singer Bernard Fanning going on cuts like ''(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind'' are '70s mutton-chop-rock acts like Bad Company. Which makes this CD pretty good company.