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When the Members recorded The Sound of the Suburbs in 1979, West Islanders the Undercovers were eating puréed peaches going goo-goo.
Various The Rebirth of Cool: Seven (Island/PolyGram) In volumes loosely built around new genres like acid jazz, trip hop and drum & bass, the Rebirth of Cool series might yet prove to have been prescient in recognizing this decade as the Jazzy '90s (see also: lounge, swing and post-rock). And volume Seven is the jazziest of all, making the connection not just with contempo club beats but also the "world." Eschewing name acts (save Roni Size) for artists with monickers like the Amalgamation of Soundz, Seven's 2-CD set gives you stuff like Afro-jazz aerobic jams, an Indo-electro break-down and a Braz-jazz workout over a Milton Nascimento tune. It's all quite "serious," but hey: all those '90s goatees out there do need to be stroked. 8/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
The Knack is back, so it's time to admit: the only reason we ever hated their "My Sharona" is that we heard it way too many times. There's a reason that sort of thing happens. I believe it's called catchiness. While most of this comeback betrays a distinct lack of zoom, that's perhaps because they play their best card at the gate--the killer "Pop Is Dead" ("Bring your shovel," Doug Fieger begs of us). Yeah, pop is dead, the Knack is alive, the Who want their riffs back and everywhere you go, kids wanna rock. Where the hell are my skinny ties?! 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
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The Undercovers Some People (Stomp)
Which makes it doubly astounding that this album sounds so incredibly Member-ish. But not in a copy-catty way: there are some pretty darned authentic pub-lad yobbo vibes here. Maybe producer Gus Van Go had a hand, but there isn't a dud track on Some People: "Standing Alone" is a smasheroo of unabashedly feel-good wah-wah-wah choruses, "Ghetto Blaster" is a smasheroo of ska-lite summer-anthemness, "Stop the War" is a smasheroo of incredibly stupid lyrics (something growly about "the nation" and stopping "the war-ho-hor"). The horns are tight. The hooks will sink you. Most songs don't touch three minutes. Intensely addictive. 9/10 (Mireille Silcott) At Republika this Sunday, July 19.
The Knack Zoom (Rhino/Warner)