The Wild Life (1992)

Slaughter hit multiplatinum its first time out, in 1990, by doing what a hard-rock band ought to do: party aggressively and maintain an attitude toward romance that is thoroughly adolescent (as are their fans). The not terribly deep The Wild Life, the quartet's second album, mostly offers more of the same. Bassist Dana Strum and singer Mark Slaughter produced the record (as they did the band's debut LP), and their youthful exuberance makes the space-age effects and sonic booms sound more playful than pretentious. The only real downside comes when they try to get arty and socially conscious on ''Times They Change.'' This attempt at musical experimentation — which ranges from quiet introspection to explosive assault — falls flat. It's a relief to get to the next track and hear the group kick into the hip-shaking ''Move to the Music.'' When Slaughter sings ''You've got to move to the music/You've got to live on rock 'n' roll,'' that's as thoughtful as they ever need to get. B

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