Cracker

If only David Lowery really had been as giddy about selling out as he seemed, Cracker might have been the big slobbery raspberry in the face of alt-rock sanctimony he pretended it was. Cracker's rootsy backbeat thrust swaggered with a populist immediacy supposedly more democratic than the collegiate whimsy of Lowery's old band, much-lauded eclectic absurdists Camper Van Beethoven. Lowery declared, "I don't know what the world needs now/But I'm sure as hell that it starts with me" on his first single ("Teen Angst") with the commitment of a long-overlooked talent finally commandeering the spotlight.

But belated success didn't dilute the sourness of a dude who has felt unjustly ignored for the better part of a decade. Rockers have sneered their way to ge-nius many a time, but Kerosene Hat drowns in the world-weary whininess Lowery diagnosed as indie rock's terminal condition back on Camper Van's "Life Is Grand." Bitch slaps like "Get Off This" sound more strident than the indie purists it chided for securing Perkins Loans, piercing their nipples, and knowing all the words to "Where the Hell Is Bill?" Lowery sounds as clueless as Mark Knopfler dissing pop stars with earrings back in 1985. The curdled resentment of The Golden Age's "I Hate My Generation" stunk so rankly of old-fartism that if you didn't check Lowery's birth certificate, you might suspect that the contemporaries Lowery was lashing out at were pushing 60.

Recently, Lowery has made peace with his past, reuniting the Campers, even resuscitating his old indie label Pitch-A-Tent. But neither the Spice Girls, Puffy Combs, nor Bobby Brown could get away with calling a record Forever, and though he'll outlast them all, neither can David Lowery. Countrysides includes songs from writers as varied as Merle Haggard, Terry Allen, and Bruce Springsteen. Lowery unexpectedly recovers his sense of humor here -- he kicks off Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition" with an absurd "Alternative country singers have always been a real close family." Collecting 16 of Cracker's wisest cracks, Garage D'Or is probably your best bet, if just for the fondly sardonic "Eurotrash Girl." (KEITH HARRIS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide