When it comes to making music, New York City band The Mooney Suzuki isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel.

On “Electric Sweat” (Gammon), as well as its 2000 debut, “People Get Ready,” the band borrows heavily from past influences, even going as far as borrowing its name from the two principle men behind ’70s avant-garde artist Can – Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki.

Guitarist and vocalist Sammy James Jr. dresses the part of a young Lou Reed: wrap-around sunglasses, a black leather jacket and a mop of unfurled, black hair.

On the opening and title track, the band kicks out the jams and sounds like its stripped-down Motor City heroes, MC5, minus the politically charged lyrics.

The three-chord momentum of “In A Young Man’s Mind” recalls the Who and wouldn’t sound out of place on its landmark live album, “Live at Leeds.”

“In a young man’s mind/ There’s a little room for music/ And the rest is girls,” James Jr. boasts. Judging from the rest of the album, there isn’t much more on the collective minds of the band.

The addictive sounds of “Oh Sweet Susanna” make it the album’s most distinct and best track. Musically, the layers of acoustic and electric guitar and hand claps along with James Jr.’s Arthur Lee-like vocals transform the track into an outtake from Love’s 1967 album “Forever Changes.”

“Electric Sweat” isn’t a bad album, and like influences of 30 years ago, Mooney Suzuki has recorded an album that sounds refreshingly out of place with contemporary music. In order to take the next step, the band needs to put away the seminal albums of yesteryear and record free from the influence of other bands. Until then, the band will be a day late and a dollar short.