Personnel: Sophie Trudeau (vocals, whistling, violin, melodica, organ, xylophone, percussion); Stephen McBean (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums, percussion); Megan Boddy, Rachelle Reath, Emily Milliken, Jesse Sykes, Diego de Castillo, Ashley Webber, Amber Webber, Kathryn Calder (vocals); Joshua Wells (acoustic guitar, piano, drums, congas); Tolan McNeil (electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin); Josh Stevenson (electric guitar, synthesizer, guitar synthesizer); Phil Wandscher (lap steel guitar); Ted Bois (piano, organ); Keith Parry, Keith Parry (drums, percussion); Brad McKinnon, Lyndsay Sung, Cory Gangnes, Lyndsay Sung (drums).

Audio Mixer: John Congleton.

Recording information: Dimension Hatross; Elmwood Studios; The Fifty-Fifty Arts Collective; The Hive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Photographer: T.M. Bois.

Pink Mountaintops (aka Stephen McBean and friends) generally make albums clearly defined by a big idea. After covering sex on his debut, and the post-9/11 climate of fear and war on AXIS OF EVOL, McBean allows himself to sigh and dream on OUTSIDE LOVE, an album whose unifying sentiment is good lovin'. Foregoing the sinister vibes of its predecessors, McBean revels in the sweet stuff all over OUTSIDE LOVE. He chimes on "And I Thank You" that "(t)onight I'm in love with all the lovers" and on the ebullient "Holiday" he claims "Everyone I love deserves a holiday in the sun" over mandolins, strings, and Dylan-y harmonica.

Another standout includes the leadoff, "Axis: Thrones of Love"--a rousing rewrite of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey" (itself a rewrite of the Ronette's "Be My Baby")--which continues McBean's practice of pilfering whatever famous lyric he fancies ("How deep is your love?" is the repeated refrain here). Bolstered by his Black Mountain bandmates (particularly Amber Webber, who provides her indelible harmonies throughout the record and takes the lead on "While We Were Dreaming") and many other indie luminaries, McBean continues his run of unabashedly revisionist--and sublimely executed--classic rock.