Special Coverage Pop Culture Classics (The EW 1000)Sound BitesSummer TVBox Office Game

Paula Abdul Shut Up and Dance (Virgin; all formats) Remixes make her hits much more trashy — and much more fun. B- (Greg Sandow)

Ray Anderson What Because (Gramavision; all formats) Raucous trombonist funks it up, then plays pretty. A- (Gary Giddins)

Bad Brains The Youth Are Getting Restless (Caroline; all formats) Live album from champion hardcore-noise-jazz-funk-reggae band. A (GS)

Beats International Let Them Eat Bingo (Elektra; all formats, bonus track on CD) Fun, fun, fun. Smiling melodies and a brainy mix of styles. A (GS)

Adrian Belew Young Lions (Atlantic; all formats) Sometimes weird guitarist finds his own touching —though widely varied — voice. B+ (GS)

Brent Bourgeois Brent Bourgeois (Charisma; CD, T) Serious but all-too-bland alternative pop from the former leader of Bourgeois Tagg. C+ (GS)

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds The Good Son (Enigma/Mute; CD, T) Unclassifiable songs, searing and mocking. B (GS)

The Chimes The Chimes (Columbia; all formats) This new British ''northern soul'' band is seductive and tough irresistible, in fact, as it offers world-class R&B vocals and a gorgeously relaxed cover of U2's ''I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.'' A- (GS)

Mark Collie Hardin County Line (MCA; CD, T) Perfect nuggets of blue-collar angst, from rockabilly to honky-tonk lament. A (Alanna Nash)

The Family Stand Chain (Atlantic; all formats) Unheralded R&B band connects with voices, beats, and good sense. A- (GS)

M.C. Hammer Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (Capitol; all formats) Award-winning rapper hits hard at community problems. A- (GS)

Jerry Harrison: Casual GodsWalk on Water (Warner Bros.; all formats, bonus tracks on CD, T) Ambitious but disappointing album, full of word games and funk rhythms, from the Talking Heads' guitarist-keyboard player. He sounds like a sideman, not a leader, and his work doesn't have much personality. C+ (GS)

Holy Soldier Holy Soldier (A&M/Word; all formats) Christian metal band reconstitutes Jesus as a rock & roll rebel. And it works! B (GS)

Billy Idol Charmed Life (Chrysalis; all formats) Unexpectedly touching album from a rock & roll bad boy. A- (GS)

Yngwie Malmsteen Eclipse (PolyGram; CD, T) Cult metal guitarist with inimitable touch and trademark quasi-classical style emerges closer to the mainstream, in an ear-popping amalgam of metal, pop and even Bach. B- (GS)

Kirsty MacColl Kite (Charisma; CD, T, bonus tracks on CD) Singer-songwriter with bright sound, tart edge. B+ (GS)

Kris McKay What Love Endures (Arista; all formats) New artist who can sing almost anything, pop to blues. B+ (GS)

Dave McKenna Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 2 (Concord Jazz; CD, T) An impeccable recital of sentimental songs geared by a rock-steady beat. B+ (GG)

Milira Milira (Apollo Theatre/Motown; all formats) Striking debut from a singer who has more than a hint of Sarah Vaughan in both her voice and her style. Features a timely remake of Marvin Gaye's environmental warning, ''Mercy Mercy Me,'' with a jazz violin solo by Noel Pointer that you wouldn't expect to find on an R&B album. B+ (GS)

Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Chrysalis; all formats) She transforms pop-music styles as she sings about her quest for serenity. A (GS)

Perfect Gentlemen Rated PG (Columbia; CD, T) Maurice Starr, the mastermind who invented New Edition and New Kids on the Block, hits bottom, let's hope, with this prepubescent trio that includes his own son and a neighbor apparently chosen only because he was cute. D+ (GS)

Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia; all formats) Provocative, powerful album by rap group, which hints at troubling racial theories but overall raises issues that can't be ignored. A- (GS)

The Sidewinders Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall (RCA; all formats) Part roots, part punk; smart and strong. B+ (GS)

Lisa Stansfield Affection (Arista; all formats, bonus tracks on CD, T) Smoldering dance debut with a varied and subtle beat. A- (GS)

Mark Stewart Metatron (Mute/Restless; all formats, bonus track on CD) Synthesizer wizard from England fashions intentionally out-of-focus dance and heavy-metal songs, with distant, strangled singing. Strangely fascinating, sometimes arch. B- (GS)

Koko Taylor Jump for Joy (Alligator; all formats) Raucous blues; much of the album might have been unearthed from a time capsule. B (GS)

Tony! Toni! Tone! The Revival (Polydor/PolyGram; all formats) Brainy funk. A- (GS)

Steve Wariner Laredo (MCA; CD, T) Skilled singer-guitarist highlights country jazz and rural sentimentality. B (AN)

The Wedding Present Bizarro (RCA; all formats, bonus track on CD, T) This British band's lyrics sound like lovers arguing on the phone — in a strange, dark movie that allows you to hear only one of them. The music is a drone of distorted guitars, as if played by a calmer version of guitar-noise champions Sonic Youth. B+ (GS)


Posted May 18, 1990 | Published in issue #14 May 18, 1990 | Order Article Reprints