Shapeshifter

11/02/1999 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Mike Lipton

If the success of Marcy Playground's charming folk-pop debut was unexpected (1.5 million copies and still counting), the follow-up shows the success was no fluke. The acoustic-based tunes on MP's debut, which was more a solo effort by singer/songwriter/guitarist John Wozniak than a band recording, were low-key and understated; the follow-up, the work of a solid trio, takes his songwriting to the next logical level while leaving no question that things have changed.

A grungy electric rhythm guitar opens "It's Saturday." But if the sound is typically alt-rock, the subject matter and melody are still charmingly boyish and offbeat. "It's Saturday" finds Wozniak trying to talk his way out of going to school without sacrificing his Saturday. "Mom, I'm dyin'... my throat hurts... I got some kind of disease... I think I should stay in bed today--maybe tomorrow go out and play." Wozniak's overactive imagination also comes into play on "Secret Squirrel," a catchy rocker about a fictitious and unlikely superhero, and "Pigeon Farm," long a staple of the band's live shows.

Tunes like the gentle ballad "America" and "All The Lights Went Out" are more fully realized takes on the form Wozniak used on the previous release, while "Never" mixes the acoustic and electric styles for one of the disc's best cuts. A few generations removed from the Who's "My Generation," "Our Generation" closes the disc--a soaring, acoustic anthem that could be the "Something In The Air" of the '90s.