POP MUSIC REVIEW : Yeomanly Work by Hoodoo Gurus

From a band called the Hoodoo Gurus, one would expect spells and intoxicating potions.

These veteran Australian guitar-rockers have shown themselves capable of delivering an alluring pharmacopeia in the past, but they conjured little magic on Tuesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. Instead, the Gurus offered 85 minutes of yeomanly pop-rock, showcasing some obvious virtues but seldom igniting a special spark.

Melody is a Hoodoo Gurus strength, and at least half of the set’s 21 songs featured memorable, hummable hooks. Brawn wasn’t lacking, either, thanks to drummer Mark Kingsmill’s muscular thwack, and to a healthy interest in psychedelic guitar distortion and garage-rock slashing and grinding on Brad Shepherd’s part.

But the sense of joyful lift and transporting intensity that a good melodic rock band creates when it is clicking failed to materialize.

At the end, after an energetic run through the Clash/Tommy James hybrid “Like Wow--Wipeout,” singer Dave Faulkner let out a respectable yell, but then exited with the calm of an office worker checking out at 5 p.m. If a band like the Hoodoo Gurus is doing its job, everybody should leave sweaty and exuberant, and there should be no hint of the workaday about it.