From the start, waiting for the love bus mires itself in a steamy bog of uninspired rhythms and dreamy, sleepy mid-80's pop drivel - albeit with less predictable lyrics. Pretentiously boring throughout, the 68-minute, 15-song disc never manages to free itself from the gooey muck underfoot.

Even were it not as muddy as the Mississippi, the entire collection of spacey compositions has about the same effect as a warm glass of milk or a death in the family. Baltic , the one track capable of transcending the album and taking flight, suffers the same plight as the rest of the waiting. With a better mix and more emotion, capable vocalist, this song coulda happened. But it doesn't.

Lacking almost completely from waiting, The Jazz Butcher's 16th release, is the diversity they have been widely applauded for in the past. Unless you consider that Rosemary Davis' World Of Sound , the album's opener, bears a slight resemblance to very early Pink Floyd (Emily's Bicycle-era Floyd, before most of recorded history), and that Killed Out is reminiscent of a basic Stones rocker (though without the solid, driving backbeat and the insistency of Mick Jagger's vocal ravings), you'd have to say it all sounds pretty much the same.

As a special treat (oh, please!), The Jazz Butcher closes the album with rousing covers of Everybody's Talking and Do You Wanna Dance? But don't worry - you'll be asleep by then.

Waiting For The Love Bus

There's a clean, simple sound to a lot of this that Condition Blue detractors might appreciate. I'm ten years older now than when I made Bath, and right now, after all that morbid stuff, it only really feels like about three. There's rockin' shit and there's a big ballad or two and some weird little pop songs and a nice family sing-along about penguins. I hope you like it.

creation_records, TriStar Records