British pop's distinctly non-prodigal son and all around lyrical misanthrope Luke Haines rapidly follows-up his soundtrack for 'Christie Malry's Own Double Entry' with an album's worth of perfect pop songs.

Bernard Butler and Damon Albarn all wanted to be contemporary incarnations of Oscar Wilde, but they loved the media too much and fell in love with themselves and their fans. And that's no way for a misanthrope to behave. Haines knew better.

On his debut album with The Auteurs, 'New Wave', released in 1993, he created the Britpop record that should have been huge. It wasn't. But it gained him cult credibility and this album is the best he's made since the first. Once again, on songs like "Discomania", he assesses the state of British life and finds it wanting. And he's cruel, sardonic and hilarious through every minute of tearing the fabric of the British body politic into tatters.

Every glam and disco influence is tastefully handled and though there are more than side glances at 'Low'-era Bowie and T-Rex, he never takes himself seriously. He knows you know his influences and he couldn't care less. But all this doesn't matter a damn when you don't have killer hooks, and Haines has more than you've had hot dinners.

Last week I wrote about one of my favorite records from 1974 ('The Psychomodo'). This week we return to that same year, but to a different scene. Hawkwind were a dangerous band. They had a six foot dancer named Stacia who stole all the attention at their shows with her body paint and psychedelic gyrations in front of a light show. They also had Lemmy the Lurch playing bass, his first major gig after leaving the band Sam Gopal, where he played guitar. Lemmy's presence would not last long.

After Hawkwind's third record, 1975's 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' Lemmy was thrown out of the band when he was busted for speed at an airport. I guess that records song "Kings Of Speed" which he sung was an anthem more than an observation! 'Hall Of The Mountain Grill' (named after a restaurant they frequented while recording the disc) is Hawkwind's second and best record. The first record 'Doremi Fasol Latido' (how you teach children to sing, like Julie Andrew's did in The Sound Of Music) was good, but the band really came into their own on this disc.

The opening song "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)" cannot be topped. Almost seven minutes of killer rock. The middle section has intensity never equalled till years later when Patti Smith explored the cosmos in her stream of conciousness tracks. "D-Rider" uses phase shifted vocals better than The Byrd's or Moody Blues ever did. Hawkwind used electronics in their sound, though that fact seems so minor, looked upon today. The main strength they had on this record is the blend of heavy rock and spaciness, with songs that did not meander.

"You'd Better Believe It" has vocals that could almost have been Ozzy. It is a heavy song that has Lemmys distinctive bass and background vocal along with Mick Turner's violin. Lemmy wrote and sings "Lost Johnny", this albums ode to degeneratism. "Paradox" has a guitar part very similiar to "D-Rider" before it takes off into a gallop.

This reissue package has 4 bonus tracks. Two are edits done for singles, one is a different mix, and one is "It's so Easy", which only appeared as a B-side. It is a great song that I had never heard before. Like most bands, Hawkwind stayed together for too long, releasing increasingly irrelevant records, making their name a joke instead of an honored name from the past. This record can fix that.

Faves: 1,3,9,10,12

Moloko are Mark Brydon and Roisin Murphy. They have released three LPs to date: 'Do You Like My Tight Sweater?', 'I Am Not A Doctor', and 'Things To Make And Do'.

Sometime after the release of the second LP something happened. A remixed version of "Sing It Back" became THE anthem for Ibiza in the summer of 1999, and Roisin became 'The Queen of Ibiza' to many. The third record reflected the new consiousness that they had a dance audience.

The first 2 records in retrospect sounded somewhat empty, production wise (particularly 'I Am Not A Doctor'). They sounded like the 80's band Yazoo (Yaz). But there were misteps on 'Things To Make And Do' as well. The most obvious is the song "Indigo", with a saxophone part that made it more comical than funky cool.

This double CD is not a remix collection in the now standard sense of the word. It is more like giving some great older material new life through reinvention. The versions presented here have already been released as B-sides to original singles, but gathered together here seem to achieve an unforseen unity.

Spread between two discs are 7 songs from the first record, 6 from the second, and 8 from the third. I like Moloko a lot and definetely approve of the results on this set, priced less than an import copy of one of their CDs (only the first record came out in the US).

Among the many songs I like on this set, my favorite is "Lotus Eaters (Ashley Beedle's Funk In Your...Neighborhood Mix)". It mixes a second song with vocals in the background and comes out sounding like something that could be on one of the two ' Spinout' mix CDs released by Masanori Ikeda (Mansfield) on the Japanese V2 Records. "Indigo (All Seeing I Glamoloko Mix)" is the improved version without the saxaphone, and with a background vocal that sounds like it's lifted right out of Pere Ubu's "Final Solution."

Faves: disc1: 1,4,5 /disc2: 2,5,8,9,10

In late March last year, a collective known as Fischerspooner performed a series of 20 minute shows at Gavin Brown's Enterprise, a small, yet important gallery in the Meatpacking District of New York. As the story goes...half a dozen women, wearing hair extensions and bondage-like black outfits, crawled and danced on high catwalks under white neon. Warren Fischer programmed the music, and Casey Spooner (the leader of the group), dressed in a sci-fi flying suit, danced in front of a wind machine. I can imagine it was quite a spectacle. Music, art, and fashion in one fantastic assemblage.

A self-titled CD was released in conjunction with these performances; and it hasn't left the New York Other Music charts in months. Through word-of-mouth, nearly every scenester in NY had an opinion about FS. Casey Spooner graced the cover of Index magazine (the headline read "Into stranger regions of fun"). And mainstream periodicals (i.e., i-D, Harper's Bazaar, Flaunt, Nylon) soon followed with features on the group. Not bad for a group that started off by performing at the Astor Place Starbucks!

This 5-track E.P. was released on the German label International Deejay Gigolo, home of Dopplereffekt, Miss Kittin, and DJ Hell (who runs the label), among others. It's fitting that FS is on Gigolo because it's apparent that they are obsessed with electro beats and synthesizers. The first two cuts on this E.P. are very similar to each other. "Emerge" starts with a sequence that reminds me of the music composed for 80's computer games. Casey coyly sings the sexy lyric, "Sounds good, looks good, feels good too." The group also uses some neat robo vocal effects. Surprisingly, they deny that they are attempting to revive the 80's, even though one would think so by hearing their music. Instead, FS's main influences are glamour, fashion, and the over-the-top-ness of bollywood musicals, which is more apparent live than on their records.

"Naughty's Peaktime mix" is dominated by pounding techno beats. It uses a sample of Casey saying "uh huh, that's right" over and over again. This cut has a more techno edge to it. Overall, it's really not as strong as some of the other versions. The Terranova mix is also dancier than the original, but not as intense as the "Naughty" mix. It has some heavy guitars, which give it a strange rock feel.

Appropriately, Detroit's Adult (the current masters of the electro sound, in my opinion) did its own remix. The first 10 seconds of this mix clearly sounds like an Adult song with fast, fun drum machine beats. One of FS's dancers/singers, Cindy Greene, cries out loud vocals, which stand out more on this version than the original. Adult keeps FS's original drum beats, and adds infectious beats underneath that are clearly distinctive of their own style.

Faves: 2, 4

Uwe Schidt is most well known for his Senor Coconut stuff and his Lassigue Bendthaus (lb) 'Pop Artificielle' record, but to me those represent the lowest common denominator of a killer underground artist.

The REAL meat of Uwe Schmidt's career are his projects Los Sampler's, Geeez 'n' Gosh, Erik Satin, Atom & Tea Time, and Midisport. And that's not even including his Lisa Carbon, Atom Heart, and Flanger identities, which I don't like quite as much.

Uwe Schidt is a Berliner living in Santiago Chile. His art is to bring complete digital overkill to whatever genre of music he turns his attention to. 'My Life With Jesus' is his tech-house project, comparable to Thomas Brinkmann's Soul Center project. Every song is written in homage to Jesus, and there are vocal samples sprinkled liberally throughout the cuts.

The sound is intense sharp edged electronics: angular sounds more hurky jerky than smoothly robotic, yet completely devoid of organic tendencies nonetheless. He is the master of this sound. To me Uwe Schmidt is the most innovative of anyone in the electronic field.

His stuff is somewhat populist - there is always a novelty feel just below the surface - but the end result kicks anyone else out of the ring as far as I'm concerned. You'd do well to check out the tracks "Salvation", "Gotta Pray", Talk With God", and "Calling Jesus".

Faves: 1,3,7,8

Turkish rock music from 1966 to 1975. 22 songs, some not particularly super, but some oh-so-fine. There are a handful of really cool rocking tracks that completely justify this compilations existence.

Silvetler's "Lorke Lorke" (#1) could be danced to like the Russian segent of Nutcracker. Mavi Isiklar's "For Your Information" (#3) is a melodic garage cut that works on all levels. #5 sounds like The Doors. Apaslar's "Gilgamis" (#6) has a dash of Grateful Dead jamming sprinkled in it's instrumental psychedelia, but the beat keeps it vital and alive.

Mogollar's "Hard Work" (#7) uses sitar and traditional instruments in a rock setting, with a song that echoes The Yardbirds "Over Under Sideways Down" to my ears. "Hard Work" is my favorite cut on the disc. Some cuts are a bit weak. Baris Manco & Kaygisizlar's "Trip" (#12) has music that sounds too much like "Stepping Stone", though it does rock worth it's weight.

The instrumental "Basak Saclim" by Grup Bunalim (#14) has a dry sound with no reverb, but sounds really good. Erkin Koray & Ter's "Hor Gorme Garibi" (#16) is a heavy psyche rock track that works too. Ersen's "Sor Kendine" (#19) sounds like a Turkish version of Cream.

A mixed bag but a cheap pricetag make this disc an OK buy.

Faves: 1,3,6,7,14,16,19

I'm surprised this album wasn't released on Siesta, the Spanish label that puts out Ramon Leal and Beatrice Binotti records. The Portuguese lyrics and bossanova music could easily fit on the Siesta comps "Sol Y Sombra" and "Educacion y Descanso." Nevertheless, "Azul" (Blue) has a home at Tricatel, the Parisian label run by Bertrand Burgalat. This album is the baby of Helena Noguerra and Philippe Katerine. They co-wrote all the songs, except for "Ile amoureuse" (Island of Love) and "Mon bel andalou" (My Handsome Andalousian). "Azul" has the same melancholy feel that one hears when listening to an Astrud Gilberto album, or even Air's "Moon Safari." It's timeless, dreamy, and elegant. You can't help but picture the leisurely life in St. Tropez or Rio. Appropriately, the lyrics alternate between Portuguese and French, except for "Baby Blue" which is in English. I love the keyboard melodies and light jazzy drumming, which are all over this album.

"Morrer nos seus bracos" is a lovely, slow, calming bossanova tune, which features Katerine on backing vocals. "Baby Blue" is romantic and cute, but the English lyrics seem out of place, compared to the beautiful French and Portuguese lyrics in the other songs. "Ceu azulou" (Blue Sky) is one of the clear highlights. It features a smooth bass line and back-up singers gently cooing "ahh"s. "M'en aller" (I Go There) has some neat Hammond organ and groovy bass sounds that could easily fit on the Blow Up comps. "Vem aqui" (Come Here) is a short, fun, upbeat cha cha song that doesn't get tired even after multiple listens. "Azul" ends with the slow ballad "Tout commence" (Everything Begins), which sounds a bit like Francoise Hardy or Margo Guryan. It features some gentle guitar melodies and xylophone. It's a nostalgic sounding conclusion to a lovely album of bossanova pop tunes.

Faves: 1, 2, 7, 9, 10

In the 70's JJ Cale achieved a hit single with the song "Cocaine". In 1967 he recorded this pretty cool platter. A little background info on JJ I found here says "Cale played in bar-bands, worked as a studio engineer and recorded several low-key singles before collaborating with songwriter Roger Tillison on the psychedelic album, A TRIP DOWN SUNSET STRIP."

The record has a bunch of covers with short instrumentals sprinkled between. The sound of hot rods revving is always just to the back of the mix, in homage to the famous road in LA the record is named for, where teens cruised up and down each night despite the stop and go (just barely) traffic just to be making the scene and meeting people (as they still do).

The instrumentals are pretty much throwaways. It's the cover versions of popular songs that make this record. "Eight Miles High", "Psychotic Reaction", "Over Under Sideways Down", "Sunshine Superman", "Kicks", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Puff (the Magic Dragon)", and "Along Comes Mary" are given the JJ treatment, and the result is mostly good.

My favorite of the cover versions are "Sunshine Superman", "Kicks", and "Along Comes Mary". I really never thought that a record could make me appreciate such overplayed obvious choices of cuts, but this one did it. All the best tracks have a really alive sound and punchy drums. Where did it go wrong, JJ?

Faves: 5,8,11

Just weeks after hearing the Hal Blaine CD "Dueces, Roadsters, T's, and Drums" (recently reissued by Sundazed), this Toby Dammit CD comes on like a modern counterpart rich in beat.

Hal Blaine was the drummer favored by Phil Spector on his recordings. Toby Dammit is the drummer of The Residents. Hal Blaine recorded his record to cash in on the popularity of Hot Rods in his time. Toby Dammit is using the current popularity of instrumental beat oriented music as a launchpad for his success.

There are 6 long songs on this CD. To further cement the Hal Blaine connection, my favorite track from this CD is "Roadblocks Here and There" (#3), a track that liberally uses racecar sounds. It is a jewel. Really cool beats and odd sounds make it the very best song on the CD. I also like the first song, "Number One Famous". It has samples of an announcer and his thrilled subjects, plus the requisite cool sounds and beats. Those two songs are my favorites because they go the furthest beyond the drum dominated sounds that the other songs have.

Any of the songs would be fine for a quick spin, but at the length they go on for, I'll take #1 or 3. Of phenomenal length and considerable interest is the fifteen and a half minute final track "Escape From Fire Island (An Erotic Fantasy)". It goes through many changes and get very chaotic at times, but remains engrossing.

Faves: 1,3

Released in 1999, this CD had skipped my attention even though I loved the single I reviewed in the December 7, 1999 gullbuy. The Fur Ones are Jon Huck and Christina Blackaller, a duo from Los Angeles.

There are 16 songs on this disc, including all three tracks from the single. Luckily, there are several more good cuts on the CD: the single did not just take the cream of the crop and leave mediocre songs for eventual uncovering. The A-side of the single "Organic In The Park" (#3) is Saint Etienne styled pop. It finds good company with "On Vacation" (#1), which is melodic, electronic, and smooth as a tall drink.

"Hopper (Shut Up Tree)" (#2) has hints of the sound that has sprung up in other LA bands such as DJ Me, DJ You, Seksu Roba, and The Anubian Lights. "Cholo Walk" is an instrumental which reminds me of the 1977 NYC band Mink Deville if they wanted to be 'easy' instead of street tough.

"French Bread" (#5) is another Saint Etienne styled vocal song. In fact, The Fur Ones remind me a bit of a "Saint Etienne Jr.". The same attention to detail and multiple keyboard parts that Saint Etienne excel at can be found on this disc. It is especially impressive when you consider that this is a self financed and released record. "Eraser" (#6) reminds me of "Like a Motorway" for all of it's fifty seven seconds. "Sunday" (#8) is another of the songs from the single.

The second half of the CD starts with some songs that mingle in experimental electronics. Both "Hot Dog" (#10) and "Something to Eat" (#11) sound much more "Warp" than anything else on this disc. The CD stays in instrumental mode including the final song from the single, "Twinkle" (15).

If The Fur Ones release a new record on a label that distributes them effectively, they will gain lots more fans than they presently have. In the meantime, you may wish to contact them through the website to order a copy of this disc for yourself.

Faves: 1,2,3,5