Slow Motion

Boasting an eye-catching cover straight from Mad magazine, this is a less successful follow-up to Rhinos, Winos, and Lunatics, with almost the same personnel. While this album has the same California-via-Wales guitar twang and spit as its predecessor, evidenced by the laconically witty "You Don't Like Us," it somehow lacks ambition. Perhaps it's the absence of keyboardist Malcolm Morley. The pensive "Grasshopper" rises to the occasion, though, with a percussive piano part and weeping strings overlaid by gentle strummed guitar. — Paul Collins