It would be in the best interests of both writer and reader to get our ground facts straight here: you are about to read a review of an album of jazz interpretations of classic and semi-classic pop songs, drawing heavily from the nineteen-nineties, played by a vibraphone, piano, and bass trio of three anonymous guys, one of whom happens to be responsible for 1998’s alternative-rock radio favorite “Closing Time.”

To their credit, publicists for The New Standards’ self-titled album readily acknowledge all of this.

There’s no way a record like this should work, and in many places it doesn’t. “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” sounds dopier here than on Neil Young’s original, and what can I say but that the “Woo-hoo!”s are a bit more appropriate in Blur’s guitar-and-drum vision of “Song 2″ than here, stuck as they are between a vibraphone and a soft place.

At the same time, when it works, it really works. The New Standards’ strength is their ability to rifle back through the used record store of their minds and pull out (more or less) exactly the right songs to attempt. Who knew Beck’s “The New Pollution” would fit so naturally into this presentation? I was initially concerned by the bouncy piano chords leading into the Replacements’ “I Will Dare,” but come to think of it, isn’t that what Paul Westerberg had in mind? At any rate, “I Will Dare” is probably the most enjoyable track on the album. Also memorable are “All the Young Dudes” and, reaching way back, Kurt Weill’s “My Ship.”

Really, it all comes down to your first impression. Just as we’ve all met the Beatles purist who refuses to accept any reinterpretation of the band’s songs, know better than to assume there aren’t a few Mott the Hoople purists among us. Also advised against this recording is anyone with an actual appreciation of the vibraphone’s place in music – Bags and Trane this ain’t. Fortunately, it’s not Richard Cheese either, and that’s good enough for my ears.

Reviewed by Dan Ray