Adventures In Stereo--

Alternative Stereo Sounds

(Bobsled)

By its very nature, pop music means different thingsto different generations, even though each generation (and sub-generation;you can plan on a five-year purge) expects it to stick for all eternity.

To my (older) sister's gang, "pop"meant the Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville," and to her, a pop songstill has to have jangly guitars, two-dozen vocal hooks and a break wheremost of the instruments drop out.

My version of pop-- built around DwightTwilley's "I'm On Fire"single that I bought when I was 14-- is apurer pop, completely removed from country and blues, allowing for twodozen XTC album cuts but virtually none of their singles. In this popvision, Nilsson's "Me and My Arrow" is "Stairway ToHeaven," and Nick Lowe's Labour Of Lust is Exile On Main Street.

To my friend Sue in New York, "pop"is-- and always will be-- Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" multi-trackedvocals, a beat that doesn't distract and lyrics that absolutely have tobe about failed or failing love.

I've decided that Adventures In Stereo have put out the absolute greatest pop record of thedecade, but I'm not sure that's gonna mean a whole lot to Grip-ites, given that no less a resource than The Trouser Press Alt Guide throws the "pop" term at bands as disparate GreenDay, Pere Ubu and My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult.

I can really only describe Adventures'songs in terms of fast pop ("Down

In The Traffic"), dream pop ("Dream SurfBaby"), and slow pop ("Brand New

Day"). It's so pure, there's reallynothing else to compare it to, save for the peppier songs from the firsttwo St. Etienne albums. Judith Boyle's vocals (sometimesdouble-tracked, Sue!) float over Jim Beatty's melodic, perfectly minimalguitars.

So let's try it like this if GreenDay is your idea of pop, this is western swing. If My Life With the ThrillKill Cult fills the bill, think of Alternative Stereo Sounds as ultimate grunge.

And if you think the second-to-the-last Dave Matthews Band single is perfect pop, we'll have to negotiate.

-ĞDave Harrison