Monaco Music for Pleasure (Polygram)
Thank the gods who created New Order: Peter Hook's back, with a new collaborator (David Potts) and his bass still strongly strumming. Hook has finally stopped denying that he was crucial to Joy Division and New Order (as he did with his last project, Revenge).
John Lydon Psychos Path (Virgin/EMI) When Leftfield and John Lydon collaborated in '93 for "Open Up," word was that techno had "arrived." An ex-Pistol singing over dance fare was validating. So who's authenticating who now? Danny Saber, The Chemicals and Leftfield try their best on Lydon, but their palettes can't quite settle this passable but rather bloated last gasp. When Lydon isn't indulgent with "fucked" lyrics and spit on the mic, his tunage comes off sounding like bad ballads by The Cult. Or flouncy ones by Chris DeBurgh. Or suspiciously, like Malcolm McLaren circa "Madame Butterfly." 7/10 (Mireille Silcott) Misfits American Psycho (Geffen/MCA) Ah, the year of the recharged hair bands, featuring the Misfits and Motley Crüe! Maybe last year's Sex Pistols resurrection is to blame for this particularly miserable comeback (read: cash in on cult status), because Doyle and Jerry Only's songs are weak and new screamer Michael Graves doesn't hold a black candle to evil ol' trannie-chasing Danzig. I'll bet the hardcore kids won't take lightly to this punked-up Van Hagar knockoff. 3/10 (Lorrie Edmonds)
Cinderella Once Upon A... (Mercury/Polygram)
Two greatest-hits packages regurgitated from the "where are they now" file. Cinderella's paint-by-numbers anthemic ballads and moronic glam rock is almost as horrid as Suicidal Tendencies's embarrassing stab at funky metal. One could only hope that both of these bands are considering an ICS course in air conditioning repair so we won't have to put with another 10 years of banality. Cinderella 2/10, Suicidal 3/10 (Johnson Cummins)
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So Music for Pleasure, a stylish tipple of programmed pop rock with only a couple of Britslop lowpoints, will please those who never finished with "Blue Monday." Unabashedly happy dancers like "Sweet Lips" and "Junk" flatter a charming album that's more a return to form than the dawning of anything quite new. Raging seminality already knocked twice for Hook, now the man's just at ease. And he sounds it. 8.5/10 (Mireille Silcott)