Hanson This Time Around (Island)

These boys have a lot to answer for, don't they? Before Ike, Taylor and Zachary came along to melt every barrette in America, the radio was a very different place. Three years after "MMMBop," we've got boy bands up the yeah, masterminded by an Orlandinavian conspiracy of Dr. Evils who hide in their labs and ask the musical question, "Why settle for trillions when we could make . . . billions?" (CONTINUED)

American Girls Like the Movies, Only Slower (Trauma)

While this Northwestern five-piece may not actually consist of girls, their debut is full of them. Like the John Cusack of guitar rock, American Girls are loveable, self-effacing and, of course, confused. From the bouncy getting-it-on hooks of "To the Floor" to the jazzy trumpet-infused unrequited infatuation of "Dumb Crush," all the bases are covered -- love, sex, breakups. The band's melding of trumpet and keyboards with straight-up guitar rock works best on the album's opening, which begs to be blared from a boombox held high by a guy on your front lawn. The trumpet may be the band's centerpiece, separating American Girls from the slew of other pop rock artists, but it doesn't have to carry all the weight. The songs, if not the girls, are good enough. (CHRISTINA SARACENO)

Bad Religion The New America (Atlantic)

Some bands survive by evolving; Bad Religion have made a career out of sticking to their guns. The twenty-year veterans remain punk laureates of the SoCal scene; The New America -- their fourteenth album, give or take a few compilations -- continues their late-Nineties tradition of mixing melody, politics and standard three-chord shifts but fine-tunes the process with some glossy production by studio wizard Todd Rundgren. Lyrically, the band is still pugnacious and hardcore, even with its catchy choruses -- ellipses in taste on lines such as "Melody is the key/It will set you free" ("A World Without Melody") are tempered by crafty anthems like the title song. Bad Religion may be founding fathers, but here's betting your parents will still hate them. That's pretty punk at any age. (NEVA CHONIN -- RS 841)

Beenie Man Art & Life (Virgin)

As one of the sub-genre's leading ambassadors to the urban mainstream, Beenie Man serves up dancehall reggae with commercial hip-hop flavor. The album leads off with "Analyze This," a standard dancehall chant with sinister traces of gangster rap. The signature thumping kicks and block snares of hip-hop producers the Neptunes are so prominent on "Girls Them Sugar" you half-expect Noreaga to show up on the track shouting "whut-whut!" Of course, the tight relationship between dancehall and rap is nothing new, and Beenie is neither the first nor the best to exploit it. The Wyclef-produced "Love Me Now" is an inexcusably unimaginative attempt to make fresh fare out of Naughty By Nature's classic "O.P.P." On the other hand, "9 to 5" bounces along nicely with a quirky bassline, unobtrusive drums and a sing-song hook, proving that Beenie Man can still make the formula work. (NEIL DRUMMING)

Jeff Buckley Mystery White Boy: Live '95-'95(Columbia)

The late Jeff Buckley exuded excess and ecstasy in equal measure; he was as much a part of grunge's primal scream as he was a part of art rock's deliberate whispers. Three years after his death, Buckley's quavering vocals continue to take listeners on journeys crazy with steep drops and reckless pinnacles. This live collection, recorded in the wake of his 1994 album, Grace, features Buckley's most intemperate, guitar-rabid work: pushed-to-the-limit renditions of that album's peaks, unreleased raw originals and perversely divergent covers. Nina Simone's "Lilac Wine" and the Gershwin standard "The Man That Got Away" attest to Buckley's considerable balladeering chops, while epic versions of Big Star's "Kanga Roo" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" (bitter-sweetened by a snippet of the Smiths' "I Know It's Over") prove the doomed angel's improvisational skills. An early monster penned with ex-Fishbone member Chris Dowd, "What Will You Say," builds on a Middle Eastern guitar riff and wild warble to encapsulate Buckley's climactic talents. This album's tribute to his masterful squeal might be too much for the casual listener, but extreme drama was the essence of Buckley's art. (BARRY WALTERS -- RS 841)

Nick Cave Secrets of the Love Song (King Mob/Mute)

No, you can't dance to it, but you should listen, really listen to it. This is a most unusual release, containing two lectures and four songs, one previously unreleased. The title lecture is one that Cave originally gave to adult student writers on the nature of the love song. Comparing love songs to biblical hymns, he dissects the nature of this particular sub-genre, and speaks in a rather heartfelt manner on the depth and breadth of his spirituality: "The love song is the light of God, deep down, blasting up through our wounds." File under edification of your soul. (PJ GACH)

The Delgados The Great Eastern (Beggars Banquet)

Sleigh bells, violins, Flugel horns and flutes all find a place on the Delgados' third album, The Great Eastern. More than a year in the making, The Great Eastern is a dense album blending pure melodies, complex arrangements and hefty emotional terrain. "The Past That Suits You Best" moves from a delicate opening with Alun Woodward's weary vocals, a piano and the faint sound of horn to the addition of a driving drum beat and finally to Emma Pollock's ethereal voice on the chorus. It gives the song an ironic levity as she and Woodward paint a sad but vivid image, "Bored of the truth/I return to my youth/Drinking Breaker at night/In the cold Duchess light." The Delgados are a weighty, complicated band painting intimate pictures on a broad sonic landscape. But unlike many of their contemporaries, the Delgados pull it off without the pretension. (CS)

Dusty Trails Dusty Trails (Atlantic)

Their former bands may have helped push alternative music forward, but now Josephine Wiggs (the Breeders) and Vivian Trimble (Luscious Jackson) are looking back. Coming together as Dusty Trails, the like-minded duo's self-titled debut finds inspiration in vintage movie scores, summer-y Bacharach-style melodies and warm soul grooves. From the opening "Pearls on a String," with its ghostly harmonies and atmospheric keyboard effects, this is an unusual undertaking that shouldn't but does work spectacularly well. Emmylou Harris joins the band on the forlorn "Order Coffee," while Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff and Kate Schellenbach bring their downtown flavor to the breezy "Roll the Dice." But Wiggs and Trimble remain the real stars here. Delving into their individual record collections, they have come up with a widescreen album that marks a commendable change of direction. (AIDIN VAZIRI)

Echoboy Volume (Mute)

As technology works to strip music sexless, bedroom bedlam studio boffins like Richard Warren (a.k.a. Echoboy) are the future. Turntables already outsell guitars in Warren's native Britain, so it's no wonder the country is beginning to bloom with artists taking to their rooms and their mousepads, opting out of weekend garage jams with their mates. For Warren, a former member of guitar rock trio the Hybirds, Echoboy certainly came off as an easy shift, if somewhat lonely. It's electronica but friendly enough not to fall into obscurity, since it embraces the music's alienating technological mediums akin to artists like u-ziq. Feet firmly planted in both arenas, Warren pays homage to Echo and the Bunnymen as much as Kraftwerk. Delicate spacey epics merge with error module monotony and echo chamber lo-fi jams. It's bloody cerebral, but why the hell not? (JOLIE LASH)

The Jayhawks Smile (American/Columbia)

Since 1985, the Jayhawks have valued craftsmanship and sincerity above all else; originality has been a poor country cousin. But with their sixth album, these grandpappies of the Americana movement try on a more jagged, if still countrified, rock sound. They end up sounding like every other band who ever heard Sgt. Pepper's and mid-period R.E.M. It's hard to resist the effervescent optimism of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" when that happy mandolin kicks in. But the faux-Dylan phrasing on "Life Floats By" is about as fresh as yesterday's catfish, and the quasar trippiness of the guitars on "Pretty Thing" have all the charm of a reproduction lava lamp. You can't blame the Jayhawks for trying to break out of the admittedly constricting alt-country mold -- but maybe it was the one thing that allowed them to hold their shape. (STEPHANIE ZACHAREK -- RS 841)

Looper The Geometrid (Sub Pop)

Looper, a spin-off of Scottish chamber pop outfit Belle & Sebastian, can't seem to get their story straight. Is this a charming, conceptual blend of intimate storytelling and insular and indeed looped musical fuzzy logic and nostalgia? For that is the Looper on debut Up a Tree, a personal project of B&S bassist Stuart David built upon fancy and quiet beats and samples. But on this, the band's sophomore effort, Looper has expanded somewhat. The Geometrid is a collection of song sketches, conceptually set up to represent different facets of the eponymous, vaguely retro-futuristic Geometrid vehicle/dwelling. Unfortunately, David and Co. never really coax the disparate, half-formed wholes of the notions of tunes here into a cohesive statement. There are catchy jetset moments, to be sure, such as the opener, "Mondo '77" and "Modem Song." There's quaint trip-hop such as "These Things," too. But, ultimately, few of the attention-deficient sonic trinkets stick in the listeners' craw. Intriguing, but ephemeral. (CHRIS HANDYSIDE)

New Wet Kojak do things (Beggars Banquet)

New Wet Kojak is like a Grannie Smith Apple -- hard, glossy, and very satisfying. A side project for Girls Against Boys guitarist Scott McCloud and bassist Johnny Temple, New Wets' songs are bites of observations laced with sincere irony. As the front man here, McCloud sounds like a cross between Lou Reed and Jack Nicholson. In "punxnotdead," McCloud proclaims that Marilyn Manson "is not a pussy, he's a rock god with a hot bod" -- and how can you not laugh? Throw in a moody saxophone and here's a CD for late night brooding, nail biting and fighting. (PJG)

North Mississippi All Stars Shake Hands With Shorty (Tone-Cool)

Seventeen zillion bands have tried to imitate the Allman Brothers -- what makes the North Mississippi All Stars any different? Try a persistent, droning rhythm section that borrows more from John Lee Hooker's stomp than trippy blues jamming. "Shake 'Em Down" and "Goin' Down South," which the All Stars borrow from neighboring bluesman R.L. Burnside, maintain a haunted blues feeling even when guitarist Luther Dickinson goes off on one of his many fast-plucking tangents. Dickinson's brother Cody locks onto a fast boogie beat without denying himself the room to improvise; bassist Chris Chew anchors the rhythm and connects equally with both brothers. This is improvisational blues-rock, and soon the twirly dancers will start filling up the All Stars' shows. Don't let them put you off. (STEVE KNOPPER)

The Slackers Live at Ernestos (Hellcat)

Now that ska's brief moment as the genre du jour has long since passed, what's become of bands like the Slackers who've traditionally spent 300 days a year grinding out a meager existence on the road? Well, nothing, of course. The Slackers continue to pound the pavement, channeling the sound of ska's godfathers, the Skatalites, through their own, grimy, New York City filter, adding touches of reggae, soul, bossanova and classic pop just to keep things interesting. This live set, recorded during a two-night stand at a small Holland club, captures the moody, loose-limbed brilliance that's distinguished the bands' three studio efforts. Vibrant horn lines snake gracefully in and out of the bands insistent backbeats, but it's Victor Ruggieros' rough-and-tumble Brooklyn street-corner croon that sets the Slackers apart. Whether swaggering through "Married Girl" or mourning over "Sarah," Ruggiero reveals a range of emotions that naysayers always claimed ska wasn't capable of. (DAVID PEISNER)

Rusty Squeezebox Isotopes (Eggbert)

Mike Randle My Music Loves You (Even If I Don't) (Eggbert)

With Isotopes and My Music Loves You (Even If I Don't), Rusty Squeezebox and Mike Randle, co-founder's of L.A. poptopians Baby Lemonade, simultaneously make their solo debuts. Neither album is too much of a departure from the work of their parent band. Rather, they bring to the surface the soft sounds that have always existed beneath Baby Lemonade's buzzing guitar swells. Produced by Nick Walusko of fellow Angeleno popsters the Wondermints, Isotopes blends detailed arrangements and lush harmonies with all the delicacy of Friends-era Beach Boys. The acoustic-flavored My Music cultivates a similarly intimate vibe, exploring Randle's romance with his home city. Squeezebox and Randle each give a little taste of Lemonade with the driving rockers "Lights Out" and "Ingrid," respectively, but these albums need to be quietly taken in like the view of sunset from a Southern California coastline. (MICHAEL ANSALDO)

Dwayne Wiggins Eyes Never Lie (Grassroots/Motown)

Former Tony Toni TonT interloper Dwayne Wiggins' solo debut is an expert R&B album, with danceable tunes and midnight-at-the-casbah grooves and hints of rough-house boyishness. Wiggins keeps things lively, subtly playing with texture to change the mood, as on the album's first single, "What's Really Going On (Strange Fruit)," or varying the tempo a bit for effect. Even when Wiggins is alarmingly smooth (as on the album-closing easy-jazz reworking of "What's Really Going On" or "Move With Me," his collaboration with Carlos Santana), he avoids ennui by hanging on to a little bit of funk as saxman Najee and Santana do their thing, respectively. Ultimately, this is a testament to Wiggins's talent, years in the shaping, and his promising future. (MARIE ELSIE ST. LEGER)

Various Artists The Solution to Benefit Heal The Bay (Mojo)

The idiosyncratic collision of styles keeps this exhaustive double-disc set interesting even if the individual parts don't always measure up. Amongst the jumble and jolting tempo changes there are some gems, including an invigorating live version of "Dammit" by Blink 182, Thievery Corporation's exotic trip-hop passage on "Indra," and a Motown-inspired Bad Religion rave-up called "Lose As Directed." While a batch of current MTV hot boys -- Lit, Fenix TX, et al -- might attract mainstream attention, the best kick is offered by hearing a record that jumps from Latin rockers Ozomatli's souped-up version of "Super Bowl Sundae (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix)" to Hepcat's reverential ska shuffle on "Positive (Live)." It's hard to imagine too many Goldfinger fans appreciating the Rentals' synthetic yet strangely affecting "Simple Life," but the rest of us will certainly relish the variety on offer. (AV)

Various Artists Mission: Impossible 2 (Hollywood)

Lumping together hot hard rock acts on soundtracks is certainly trendy these days. Some are brilliant, most are dismal, and this is only slightly above average. The heavy hitters all deliver solid, if predictable tracks. Limp Bizkit's clever take on the original Mission: Impossible theme, retitled "Now I Know Why You Hate Me," is hampered only by Fred Durst's inane lyrics. The Foo Fighters deliver an energetic reworking of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar," with a little help from former Queen guitarist Brian May. And both Metallica and Rob Zombie deliver catchy powerhouse tunes. Mixed in with the usual dreck from Godsmack, Tinfed and Powderfinger, are some real bright spots. The Butthole Surfers' "They Came In" is a slick trip-hoppy piece, while Apartment 26's "Backwards" and the Pimps' insanely catchy "Rocket Science" easily hold their place amongst the big boys. (JOE HAULER)

THE ROLLINGSTONE.COM STAFF
(May 9, 2000)