Chinese Album

Chinese Album

Resurrecting fashion-oriented glam rock in the midst of all of the corduroy of indie rock helped propel Spacehog's "In the Meantime" onto the charts. <i>The Chinese Album</i>, their followup to their exciting debut, <i>Resident Alien</i>, is far from a sophomore slump, but it definitely shows the band in a bit of transition. The dramatic, rock star stylings of vocalist Royston Langdon are growing beyond the Bowie-like imitations that often plagued the first CD. As a single, "Mungo City" is a worthy successor to "In the Meantime," if not as immediately accessible. "One of These Days" has the band experimenting with trip-hop beats rather effectively. "Skylark" is a Beatles-like ditty displaying the band's tongue-in-cheek take on the music that most inspired them, and ultimately on themselves as well. "Captain Freemans" is another homage, not only to the Fab Four, but to mod-punks The Jam. <i>The Chinese Album</i> should hold Spacehog's detractors at bay and make fans of the first release anxious for even more from the band. <I>--Steve Gdula</I>