Wall Of Voodoo

SINCE WALL Of Voodoo parted company with the irreplaceable Stanard Ridgeway they've continued to wrestle with their steamy vision of Amerikans and Amerikana, still swathing their cultural caricatures with the spooky atmosphere enhanced by the venomous sweep and wild Western twang of Marc Moreland's guitar.

But where Ridgeway's voice and generally screwy persona created an internal friction and musical contrast which made the tunes so dramatically unique, their current front person, the rent-a-rock-singer-from-L.A. Andy Prieboy, slips rather too comfortably into the Wall Of Voodoo noise.

With him the band trot through the expected tales of vice and sleaze, but do so with no insight or imagination or humour. And, unlike the people in their songs, they take no risks.

Perhaps they should.