Lemon Jelly

Lost Horizons/XL Records

Lemon Jelly is the well-kept British secret that''s notoriously coating the universe with its glaze of sublime, psychedelic jam (pun intended). After the overwhelming success of the band''s three now-sought-after 10-inch EP''s--The Bath EP, The Yellow EP & The Midnight EP (only 3,000 were pressed and are now sold for ludicrous prices on eBay), Lemon Jelly''s Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin returned to their studio on the Sussex coast to assemble their first "proper" album, Lost Horizons.

"Odd" is an understatement when referring to these two madcap fellas, who drop samples like kamikaze toddler turntablists on a sugar binge.

Challenging the conventions of dance music, Lemon Jelly is making music you wouldn''t necessarily dance to, music that transcends imagination, swiftly shifting the listener into a fabled universe of comical quirkiness, orchestral loops and improbable samples that might possibly soothe even the most septic ear.

Lost Horizons landscapes an eclectic collage of sound materializing in a storybook fashion clad with seductive tributes--to Clark Gable in "Ramblin'' Man," to a mysterious train journey in "Return To Patagonia," to a twisted rendition of an old nursery rhyme diced with jazz in "Nice Weather For Ducks." "Spacewalk" is inspired by the Apollo moon landings. And "The Curse Of Ka''zar" is described by Lemon Jelly as a "schizophrenic track."

"You are wandering, peacefully caressed, and then a mad priest whacks you on the back of the head with an ankh [one of those Egyptian crosses with a hoop at the top]. Or with a banana."

Lost Horizons might just be the spoon full of sugar needed to sweeten the bitter aftertaste left by over-manufactured commercial musical preservatives. Delightfully strange. Dip your ear into a little Lemon Jelly. Lick and savor.

--Melanie Walker

INXS

The Best of INXS/Atlantic/Rhino

Considered by some as Australia''s ''80s answer to the Rolling Stones because of their charismatic singer and bleached R&B, INXS were the ultimate bar-band that made it big. Simple riffs, ultra-tight rhythm section, snazzy usage of dynamics, all honed in surfer joints down under and all scrubbed shiny by a plethora of pro producers. In the era of conspicuous consumption, they were a perfect soundtrack, not heady and not so ostentatious as to make people wonder what the hoopla was about.

In retrospect, their radio-perfect fare is only slightly above passable. Unlike the Stones, they were rootless, lyrically bland or obtuse, and their snappy beats were positively mechanical, guitars barely registering a blip on a humanity seismograph. And even though the bulk of the disc is based on singles or album tracks from their middle period--such as "Devil Inside" and "What You Need"--their finest moments are their career bookends, the early, soaring, New Order-ish "Don''t Change," and the late "Suicide Blonde," which is augmented by session harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite.

Despite singer Mike Hutchence''s tragic end, the band has not become legendary, and this collection may explain why. Despite Hutchence''s model good looks, INXS was basically faceless, interchangeable with any well-rehearsed ensemble anywhere in the world that deracinates soul or funk for drunken seaside partiers. Listenable and pleasant, sure; life-affirming or uplifting, not even close. If you loved their hits, this is a plausible re-examination, otherwise, pass.

--Johnny Angel