As a production duo, Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams literally ooze platinum. Working under the moniker ?The Neptunes? they?ve crafted massive hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Usher, Ol' Dirty Bastard and No Doubt. So once they?ve finished the daily grind of making multi-million selling singles with some of pop music?s most beautiful and talented artists they get together with childhood chum Shay and get down to the serious business of making the music they really like, under the banner of N*E*R*D.

The eagerly awaited follow-up to 2002?s ?In Search Of??, ?Fly or Die? seems equally inspired by 70s soul-funk as it is by Kravitz-esque rock (more about him later) and new-wave pop. Flitting between styles and genres on literally every track makes ?Fly Or Die? an entertaining, if not particularly accessible record.

If you?ve been keeping an eye and ear on MTV and the radio you?ve probably heard the first single, ?She Wants To Move?, getting lots of exposure. Staying true to their knack for the bizarre, the video for ?She Wants To Move? features the three intrepid members of N*E*R*D performing in the ?rear? compartment of a female shaped space vessel ? an amusingly literal interpretation of the recurring line ?Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride.? Although an entertaining piece of funk-rock it isn?t a particularly true reflection of the rest of the album though, which is decidedly low-key and contemplative in comparison.

The wide range of artists Hugo and Williams work with as The Neptunes shines through on their offering as N*E*R*D, with a schizophrenic array of styles encompassing everything from call-and-response hip-hop on ?Thrasher? to straight-up rock riffs on ?Maybe?, which features a guest appearance by none other than Lenny Kravitz. The bright and cheerful tone on the Beatles-esque ?Drill Sergeant? belies the serious anti-war sentiment.

The title track is another of the album's stand-out tracks, a heartfelt song about a teenager facing real issues and choices in his life. "'Fly Or Die' is about choices," says Shay on www.n-e-r-d.com: "He's got an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other and he's just trying to take the right path."

This juxtaposition of right and wrong, good and bad, light-hearted and sombre is a technique that seems to recur throughout the album and while the subject matter of each track is usually somewhat serious, the application of the Neptunes? ?midas touch? is likely to leave many listeners baffled as to whether they should be feeling sombre or cheerful .

It?s a bi-polar record which fans of The Neptunes? work might find too complicated for their liking and at times it seems as if the three members of N*E*RD made ?Fly or Die? more for themselves than anyone else. With bags of creativity it will quite likely be their defining record, a benchmark against which to measure their future releases, but whether the record-buying public will ?get it? is another matter altogether.

P.S.: And in case you were wondering, N*E*R*D stands for ?No one Ever Really Dies?