Head Music (1999)

Ask not for whom the bell tolls — it tolls for moribund Brit pop on this sad, strangely lackluster epitaph from, arguably, the movement's finest outfit. Front-dandy Brett Anderson — once an emotive, adventurous vocalist — now relies on his own recycled fop-isms. You might not have heard these songs before, but it feels like you have; even the strongest track on Head Music, ''Everything Will Flow,'' is a cheap echo of vibrant early work. C-