Ted. Please.

Do you like intelligent and politically driven lyrics? Are you a sucker for tireless sprinting guitars à la Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty?

Do yourself a favor and check out Jersey’s best contemporary-rock dissenters, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, who just released their fifth album, "Living with the Living."

Known for their nasal, tenor vocals and rollicking rhythms, these former hardcore punks stayed true to the sounds of 2004’s "Shake the Sheets," but opted for cleaner riffs and more slick production to keep the kids a-rockin’.

The album synthesizes political rants and nostalgic love songs, but not as seamlessly as the nuanced Leo-lover might want.

More than a handful of the songs on the album are beyond good. Fiery lament, "The Sons of Cain," "La Costa Bravo" with a punked-out intro, and falsetto-infused "Who Do You Love?" team up to carry the album, but overall the flat transitions between subject matter don’t feel logical.

Leo and friends even jump back to their moshing days with songs like "Bomb, Repeat, Bomb," but that’s to be expected since the album was produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty. The bottom line: Ted, I think you can do better.