For those of you who missed Eleventh Dream Day when they played with Green in the Diversions lounge last year, I’m sorry for you.

You missed a fabulous show. Fortunately, you have a chance to hear what you missed. Atlantic Records has just released “Beet,” and it’s a masterpiece.

The whole album sounds a lot like something from The Feelies. It’s got lots of heavy-guitar instrumental jams and lyrics which don’t always rhyme or make sense. Even on a good day, though, The Feelies aren’t nearly this much fun.

A few of the cuts (“Testify,” “Awake I Lie,” “Between Here and There”) are just good old rock-and-roll songs, but the rest tell stories which get weirder with every listening.

“Road That Never Winds” is about a doomed man and a barmaid. “Bagdad’s Last Ride” is about a Bonnie and Clyde fan who gets in an argument with a sailor about the pros and cons of off-track betting.

Plane wrecks and automobile accidents are the subject of “Axle,” and “Teenage Pin Queen” is the story of a low-class truck-stop babe who seems a lot like Jodie Foster in “The Accused.” My personal favorite is “Michael Dunne,” which is about the poet laureate of Santa Barbara.

“He had a poem about his teeth. He gave it to Cathy to keep.”

Good Stuff.

As far as the musical style of “Beet,” it’s really hard to describe. Like I said, there’s a lot of Feelies in it, but that’s probably not a lot of help for most people.

If you dig in real far, you can find a hint of R.E.M., but for all practical purposes, that’s probably not too accurate. It’s got a style all its own with vague influences which are hard to pinpoint.

I imagine it’s safe to say that unless you hate any band which doesn’t sound like either Metallica or Milli Vanilli, you won’t find much to dislike about “Beet.”

It’s a fantastic album from a band that’s going to be around for a while. If nothing else, put it on your Christmas list; you’ve got nothing to lose.