Handcream for a Generation; In Our Gun; Transmission; Bloodsport (2002)

Gomez In Our Gun(Virgin) Gay Dad Transmission (Thirsty Ear) Sneaker PimpsBloodsport (Tommy Boy) Follow-up is a mother. Four British groups, each hyped or overhyped upon their breakthroughs, confront perennial sophomore questions: Do we keep the same sound (Gay Dad's glam-Bowie reinventions, culminating midway in the pop-rock nuggetry of ''Plane Going Down'' before crashing to earth)? Do we use our clout to wax wiggy in the studio (Gomez's three-vocalist acoustic vamps, now festooned with gadgetry)? Do we go for a radical makeover (Sneaker Pimps, once a trip-hop outfit with a female singer, now a mopey synth-pop quartet aimed at everyone's hidden goth teen)? Or do we keep the focus and up the amplitude (Cornershop, sounding even more like Quentin Tarantino directing a Bollywood Superfly starring Beck)? Of course it's not a race, but Cornershop wins.