Local H

Coming in at the tail end of the alternative-rock era, Local H injected enthusiasm into the genre, if not originality; they seized their moment as if playing hooky from school. A duo from Zion, IL (guitarist Scott Lucas and drummer Joe Daniels, later replaced by Brian St. Clair), Local H were the latest in a long line of post-Nirvana grunge bands, but with a twist. On Ham Fisted and As Good as Dead they play sternum-smashing melodies that verge on satire, bratty rock & roll Davids poking fun at corporate-rock Goliaths ("Chicago Fanphair '93," "Eddie Vedder") and clueless bullies ("High-Fiving MF"). At its worst, their humor comes off a touch smug and the music derivative.

Pack Up the Cats is a huge leap forward in ambition. The band flushes some of the Nirvana comparisons with '70s-style hard-rock songcraft, crossing Cheap Trick's power pop with AC/DC's Godzilla riffs, and a more deeply textured sound (courtesy of Queen and Cars producer Roy Thomas Baker). It's all put in service of one of the savviest and funniest critiques of the rock biz this side of This Is Spinal Tap! This time the humor spares no one, even the band itself, as Lucas dissects the relationship between a band and its fans, and the forces (jadedness, money, the media) that drive a wedge between them. "All the Kids Are Right" isn't just inspired by the Who's "The Kids are Alright" and Cheap Trick's "Surrender," it's an anthem that can stand with the wit, power, and poignance of those earlier classics.

With no overarching concept, Here Comes the Zoo returns to the my-fist, your-face approach of the earlier albums, only this time with a more developed sense of song and sonics. Guitars hacksaw their way through a wall of kick-drum dementia, even as Lucas delivers the kind of smart-aleck lyrics that don't call attention to just how smart they really are. Two stoned-immaculate epics -- "Baby Wants to Tame Me" and "What Would You Have Me Do?" -- provide a respite from the hammering, forging a connection between "Stranglehold"-era Ted Nugent and Queens of the Stone Age, whose Josh Homme makes a cameo. Here Comes the Zoo confirms that even though Lucas and St. Clair aren't the future of rock, they are among the best at embodying what rock once meant.

Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? dispenses with some of the more elaborate production ideas explored on the previous two albums for a more brutally direct approach. Lucas joins gleeful put-downs of the self-deluded, himself included, with an encroaching sense of time passing him by. Introspection never gets in the way of a good rock thrashing, however, and at the tail end of "Buffalo Trace," Lucas and St. Clair sound like the heaviest two-man band ever. (GREG KOT)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide