ALBUM REVIEWS : ‘Buterite’ Means Quality From the Big Enjoyers : BIG ENJOYERS: “Buterite”, <i> Neabuzz</i>

Adding another cook hasn’t spoiled the broth for Big Enjoyers. The Costa Mesa band--actually a partnership of studio denizens who seldom play live--upheld its name as a duo on the savory 1993 debut album, “Gronkin’ Quiver.”

For “Buterite,” which furthers a tradition of inscrutable album titles, former Trouble Dolls bassist Mark Soden joins the original twosome, multi-instrumentalists Jeff Bostock and Tom Neas.

Far from disrupting the focus, the expansion for “Buterite” has produced a more cohesive offering than “G.Q.,” which was a craftily concocted but stylistically scattered tossed salad of pop-rock, psychedelic and funk oddities.

“Buterite” leans more on hard rock and psychedelia than its predecessor, but it’s far from monolithic: Folk strums and R&B; grooves turn up, along with a pure-pop ballad, “I Can’t Imagine Why,” that would fit nicely on a Matthew Sweet album.

Big Enjoyers play the modern-rock game of picking up bits of the rock ‘n’ roll past as if they were so many Lego pieces, recombining them into pleasing new structures but with a familiar sound.

Those who enjoy playing the “where have I heard that before?” game will find plenty of classic-rock references and quotations, with the Rolling Stones, Blind Faith, the Byrds, Jack Bruce, Jethro Tull and Jimi Hendrix among those nicked or evoked at length or in passing.

The album gets off to a well-wrought but unsettling start: What on earth are musicians capable of the Todd Rundgren-esque charms of “Gronkin’ Quiver” doing churning out ultra-heavy Nirvana and Pearl Jam simulations (the first of which, “Corry’s Killer,” is an oblique-but-hooky metallic chugger that may or may not be about insect eradication)?

“Because it’s there,” the Enjoyers might respond. After proving that they can scale the commercial Everest (or, should we say, Mt. Rainier) of ‘90s rock if they so choose, they find their highest artistic returns elsewhere.

With lead singer Bostock sounding like an amalgam of Tom Petty and Mick Jagger, though not as forceful as either, Big Enjoyers churn out tough, cannily melodic rock tunes that would do either of those star influences proud.

Among the highlights: “Face Htz.,” wherein the band takes the ‘60s psychedelic elevator all the way to the 13th Floor, while an impressively irate Bostock spits out some of the most unfathomably trippy lyrics this side of “Come Together.” On the instrumental “Bad Dog Barking,” the trio musters a majestic liftoff that calls to mind either Lou Reed’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal” band or a Saturn rocket leaving the launch pad.

Thematically, “Buterite” deals with the darker side, evoking feelings of loss, unreality and anomie. Wrapped in music this catchy and well-designed, the downer sentiments are no barrier to big enjoyment.

(Available from Neabuzz Records, 629 Terminal Way, Suite 1, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92627.)