By Kirby Ferguso

Martinis and Bikinis

Sam Phillips

(EMI)

On Martinis and Bikinis (4) Sam Phillips isn’t shy about displaying her influences: Beatles’ quotations abound, “Same Changes” lifts its riff straight off the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul,” her clever popcraft sometimes recalls Elvis Costello. Phillips’s songs are often so immediately gratifying you’ll swear you’ve e early eighties (with songs like “Ten

Motley Crue

eaillines read. Since slithering onto the scene

tracks, plus live takes of “Superdeformed,” which originally appeared on last year’s dandy No

-- but if it helps Sweet move some more copies

heard them before, but it all sounds fresh and Secpnds to Love,” in which Vince Neil actually punchy (thanks to the aaa! seemed to brag about how fast walloping percussion) in her he can ejaculate), Motley Crue hands. Odd enough for the have consistently improved with college set, tuneful enough each outing to the point where for the radio, Martinis and their music is now almost as

tT CM aaa oka aye l= tough as they think they are. The wecle biggest change is, of course, the

departure of lead singer Vince Neil, and | say good riddance to the crap-music-makin’ bozo. New vocalist John Corabi is a more traditional, gravel-voiced hard rock belter who rams home the band’s biggest, beefiest, hardest-rocking outing yet, the self-titled Motley Crue (4). | once would have referred to this band

2, | = — —_ <G op) [am <= + © >

as a guilty pleasure, but there’s no two ways about it now-- this is good stuff. They

somewhat contrived, material and their powerchords now resound like thunder (thanks to Bob Rock’s white-hot mix). Streamlined, updated and harder than ever, Motley Crue is a hard rock tour de force. There’s music of greater sensitivity and subtlety out there, but don’t scoff at |the kicks these guys

-- not many out there do it this well.

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain Pavement (Warner/Matador) The studied sloppiness of Pavement's sound -- the sometimes hopelessly off-key singing, the instruments all just a bit out of sync -- gives them a certain pathetic beauty. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (4) proves that rock’n’roll often works best when it doesn’t sound quite right. As on Shanted and Enchanted, Pavement’s vibrant experimentalism is packaged in irresistible pop songs; ever) the most banal rock moves take on new life-- and while the band may be sloppy, they know how|to nail ee

w=

a eget a The Grays

(Epic)

The Grays is a group that has taken bits of rock, disco, alternative and country, mixed them all together and created a sound all of its own. The first song, “Very Best Years”, is a sorry excuse for musicianship. It sounds a lot like something kids learn when they are in elementary school, with drums and a few guitars thrown in the background; however, after fast- forwarding past the first song, you hear some good work, and for a first album, the four- man group does have some good stuff.

Ro Sham Bo

| can’t imagine The Grays being big in the music scene for a while, but given some time

and development, they might hit the charts. (3) —G. Kimpinski

fauxhall and I Morrissey

Warner i or aon and | (4), the follow-up to his comeback Your Arsenal, Morrissey and guitarists Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer come up with as so id

set of songs as Arsenal, while producer Steve Lillywhite (U2) gives the album a more suitably ethereal, shimmering sonic personality. More

uoyant tracks like “The More You Ignore Me the Closer | Get” and “Billy. Budd” balance out Morrissey’s bouts of self-pity and misanthropy, ioe CET AN haa e ae hdd ‘i VARIA, Thateriat s J

nd, as on Arsenal, he once again displays a remarkably sure hand on the affecting slower fare (“Used to be a Sweet Boy,” “Hold on to Your riends”). As usual, there’s lapses into bland, dreamy-jangly pop, but on Vauxhall and |, Morrissey produces music as sadly eloquent as his

lystique.

display a remarkable amount of ingenuity in a execution of their solid, if

provide

of Altered Beast, | say a job well done.

Longing in Their

her last two albums, Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, but her reliance on formula is beginning to tire. Longing in Their Hearts (3.5) follows the same pattern she’s established with Don Was: tasty r&b stuff, pure blues and country, lovely ballads. It’s tried and true and Raitt seldom surprises. What elevates it all above the banal country rock competition is

singer. Was’s hack production renders

singer and her selection is so sure

accompaniment