No-bones cheap-and-easy punk-lite. The folks have a way with pop melodies, and the songs aren't stupid.

This is less an album than a sort of compilation of a few recordings from the past couple of years. The production does vary noticeably at points, but that doesn't detract from the fun.

Some would say no self-respecting punk band would cover "Jenny/867-5309". They might be right. But it seems to fit right in with the general feel of the other tunes, so I'm not going to bitch.

Nothing important, really, but a buttload of fun.

Well, they'd already used Donut Comes Alive!, so why not use a line from a song they just wrote (or so they say)?

I've been preaching the Donut gospel pretty much since I've been in business here, and I've had a convert here and there. Most people don't seem to get it.

For example, those Ed Sullivan-esque screams of ecstasy between the songs. Did no one show up for the show, or did it simply seem funnier? I don't know, but it sure is amusing. And whenever you can take advantage of the amazingly cheap CBGB live recording rates (last I saw, a ready-to-CD-master DAT ran $125), you should go for it.

Fourteen great Donut tunes, and an almost appropriate rendition of "Helter Skelter" (though that did cross the bad cliche line). If you have yet to understand how the apocalypse has fallen upon us, have a couple beers and situate your brain between two massive speakers with this on. Things probably will not clear up, but at least you can say you've heard one of the coolest bands in the world.

You wonder how a person with a voice situated somewhere between Cyndi Lauper and Juliana Hatfield can even get a deal.

As usual, the answer is good songs. These aren't lush pop productions, but nicely understated folk-style things. That the five musicians play cello, vibraphone, autoharp and a palm frond among other things lends to a somewhat otherworldly feel.

This is about as far from straightforward as pop music can get. Berryhill has quite a way with unusual melodies (her voice helps a lot), and the lyrics are insightful in a rather non-traditional way. I've liked everything I've heard from her in the past, and this keeps that streak intact.

Having gone about as many records as a traditional death metal band can, Cannibal Corpse decide to follow Slayer, Morbid Angel and a few others by slowing things down a lot.

Sure, there's a good deal of double-bass drum work, but the vocals remain subdued, with very little of the CC "yap-yap-yap, yap-yap-yap-yap-yap" trademark style.

Actually, I hear a bunch of later-day Slayer in this record. And while I like that more than earlier Cannibal Corpse, I wish the guys had stuck to their guns, or at least tried to "mature" in a unique way. Feeding your old sound Seconal usually will not attract more listeners, and old fans just might get turned off. Oh well.

Take a dose of punk speed and pop sensibility and add a load of metal guitar and industrial filtered vocals.

This is nothing terribly original, though they do mix their influences in a way I can't remember hearing. Kinda like if Soundgarden (who never was a grunge band-get it straight) did a side project with the Supersuckers. And they borrowed an old P.A. for the vocals.

The guys tend to be a little excited about the metal riff conventions, but apart from that this is absolutely enjoyable. Sometimes the sonic assault is damned near inspiring. A pretty cool package overall.

Not the King of the Road, but No Man. Got it?

This is a re-issue of a 1988 album, and it is, shall we say, eclectic. He covers a Sun-Ra song, and that's about the most commercial track on the disc. I think that says it all.

If you're a fan of Henry Kaiser and other experimental guitarists, you should dig right in. This is a land of misplaced riffs, sprawling distortion and jumbled lyrics.

You ask: But does it work? For me, anyway. You might remember Roger and his brothers put out a disc on New Alliance under the name M-3. Just as out there, and I listen to that all the time.

Challenging, and ultimately rewarding.

Meandering between feedback-heavy punk raves to near distortion-free pop gems and then finally descending into a hellish storm of electronic squeals, OI have what it takes to satisfy.

I've liked everything I've heard from the folk, and well, this is the most coherent bunch of songs they've committed to disc yet. I can hear a real band sound developing. While this does limit their scope a bit, it's probably for the best.

And don't worry about a lack of experimentation. Just flick on the title track and find yourself lost.

Perhaps the slightest bit mellower, but still light years from being mistaken for Green Day. Outsideinside is still foundering in the gutter, and I couldn't be more pleased.

This album contains a complete lack of originality that would normally lead me to whine about things such as following the crowd and the like.

But I really dig the production. Where most death metal albums get either an over-modulated or wimpy guitar sound, the middle ground was found here. Everything is in a perfect balance. And it almost makes up for the mostly banal "bang-yer-head-until-it-bleeds" constructions found within.

Another album I really wish I could like.

I think they're just a little too excited about the whole grunge explosion. At times I hear really cool melodic ideas that are filtered through too much guitar and then "anthemized".

I know this came out of the punk community, and some of the songs are solid post-punk things. It's just that the spectre of grunge seems to be inhabiting everything.

Sometimes a nice pop song doesn't need to be cranked to the heavens and offered as a sacrifice to the classic rock god. I don't know if it was the producer or what. I hear more potential here than in almost anything else I've reviewed this month, and yet it ends up awful disappointing. Don't take it quite so seriously next time, guys.

Combining a late-Skin Yard rhythm approach with straight rock riffs, SPE are amazingly catchy for something that sounds this, um, rough.

I thought for a few minutes before settling on "rough". I knew a load of you had reported this, and I was expecting something a lot more commercial. Not so. This is wonderfully discordant and generally loud and cranky.

You folks get an A for spotting this puppy. Sometimes I wonder what it takes (other than legend status or heavy favors) to get a cool album noticed. Maybe, if the moon is full and the stars align, it just takes a good disc. I'd like to think that, anyway.

Given the current spate of Black Sabbath clones we've had whirl around lately, one question occasionally wandered by: would Thee Hypnotics come around to take advantage of a favorable trend.

After all, they were Jimi and Iommi when it just wasn't cool. This is just slick enough to entice AOR, while keeping enough wank on the guitar to keep the college types amused. Personally, I'm getting a little tired of this sound, but I have to admit that this is every bit as overblown as the original.

Sparsely produced, you can feel every metallic hard core riff knife into you.

I do hear a few metal conventions pushing their way into the mix, but these are the good parts, not poser anthemic crap that other post-punk outfits have appropriated.

And this stuff is damned catchy. At moments I can hear a Skin Yard reference or two, but that's just about pandemic. This is fun to listen to and a blast to, well, blast.

Not what you might expect from SST these days, but you should give it a spin. There isn't a song that won't hook someone on first bite.

Trotsky Icepick
Hot Pop Hello advance cassette
(SST)

Not a new album, but a collection of outtakes from the past ten years. Interesting as history, some of these songs are even worthy of serious consideration.

Featuring ex-Black Flag-er (not to mention SWA) Chuck Dukowski, with help from Paul Cutler (Dream Syndicate, 45 Grave) and Bill Stinson (nothing you've probably heard of). The result? Mostly muddy, deconstructed punk rock. Stupid or sublime, I suppose, depending on your point of view.