THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502160097
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Four songs into their second album, the Dutch band Bettie Serveert launches into ``Re-feel-it,'' a riff-'n'-beat so propulsive it's all they can do not to speed up. They flail headlong through blocks of verse and chorus, stop to look both ways, and pick up their headlong pace again.
``Lamprey'' (Matador/Atlantic) doesn't always reach such gleeful heights. Singer/guitarist Carol Van Dijk's childlike observations have done some growing up in the two years since the band's 1993 debut ``Palomine.'' On ``Lamprey,'' she spends much more time pondering the way relationships change as she slips through her 20s. ``Both our minds are occupied by memories,'' she murmurs of a failing friendship in ``Ray Ray Rain.'' ``Something So Wild'' finds a kind of betrayal in a smart pal's giving in to her boyfriend's insults.
As sweet as van Dijk's open-heartedness is, ``Lamprey'' doesn't provide the cut-to-cut thrills of ``Palomine.'' The group's sound and craft haven't grown enough to light up the wan melodies that underpin the lengthy, meditative numbers here.
- Rickey Wright
Simple Minds, ``Good News From The Next World,'' Virgin. The good news is that Simple Minds' first album of fresh material in three years gets off to a galloping start with ``She's A River.'' Gutsy guitars from Charlie Burchill fuel the band's high-minded songcraft. Frontman Jim Kerr, always a larger-than-life vocalist, roars in grand Bono-esque style about a monumental seduction.
The bad news is that the rest of the album fails to make an impact. The songs are generally big, moody and glorious, but lack the infallible hooks of past hits like ``Promised You A Miracle,'' ``Don't You (Forget About Me)'' and ``Alive And Kicking.'' Unfortunately for Simple Minds, an album's worth of anthems is about nine too many.
- Sue Smallwood
The Stone Roses, ``Second Coming'' (Geffen). The amusing title refers to the return of the Manchester scene kings after six years of silence. After the four-minute attempt at musique concrete that opens the disc, it seems the title may be the only amusing thing about the Roses' re-emergence. And when the next 70-something minutes of listless dance grooves, wah-wah guitars and Stones and Zeppelin ripoffs have finished playing, the only thing left to say is: What hath Primal Scream wrought?
- Rickey Wright
Kirsty MacColl, ``Galore'' (I.R.S.). In 1990, MacColl released ``Kite,'' one of the decade's great matches of words and music. Five of the best cuts from that trenchant folk-pop view of a crumbling U.K. provide a center for this career retrospective. Bookending them are British singles such as ``They Don't Know'' (later covered by Tracey Ullman), two collaborations with the Pogues, the local radio fave ``Angel'' and a couple of new cuts. A fine way into MacColl's funny, biting, wistful work.
- Rickey Wright ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BETTIE SERVEERT
by CNB