The Madman's Return

SNAP is less a ''band'' than a sound system in which synthesizers take the place of instruments, and vocals alternate between aggressive male rapping and fluid female singing. Nothing much happens on The Madman's Return until the fourth track, ''Who Stole It?'' — with ''it'' being the fuzzy, stop-start hook in SNAP's slamming 1990 hit, ''The Power.'' This particular gimmick was perfected later that year on C+C Music Factory's ''Gonna Make You Sweat,'' and now SNAP imperiously points out the connection: ''Who stole it from me?/C+C Music Factory/But I like it, I like it, your stuff is good/Yo, fellas, welcome to the neighborhood.'' After that, SNAP forgets about competition and proves its talent for complex, hard-hitting dance beats, as on the eerie, futuristic ''EX-Terminator,'' and a witty warning to female gold diggers called ''Money.'' The album's finest moment is its last: The lilting ''See the Light'' is as lush as Soul II Soul's best work, and even the sequences of mush-mouthed rapping can't dull its gloss.