This is grand-scale stuff, progressive without being obscure. Tight, economical pop structures give way to jamming improvisation and time-signature changes bordering on the out of control. Tasteful acoustic passages surrender to electric mayhem, then to orchestrated grandeur. Many Rheostatics songs do not follow conventional, linear song structure, although -- when called upon -- they can turn out the singalong, Crosby, Stills & Nash-like "Legal Age Life at Variety Store." Whale Music wrestles, undaunted, with conflict and contradictions, marrying simple beauty to complex surrealism.