Yet another music review from Mr. Bad! This one is about Lamb! Not the Sharry Lewis hand puppet. The OTHER Lamb.

Hey, so, I've recently realized that I only seem to review stuff that I've got the previous version of already. Like, I reviewed Orbital and Portishead and a couple of other things, and I just talked about the first album all the time and then finally got around to the actual CURRENT album some time around the end of the article. This review will be no exception to that rule.

The band Lamb is two English people, Andy Barlow (music stuff) and Lou Rhodes (singing stuff - a GIRL). Their first album, "Lamb," from, uh, 1997 or something, had this incredible SIDEWAYS MADNESS ENERGY going for it. It was techno but with an experimental madman jazz feeling to it. Like, the music would just be going ALL OVER THE PLACE, then STOP, not do ANYTHING for 10 seconds, then start again going IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIRECTION that you would never expect, which if it was a minivan would have snapped the necks of the the entire soccer team and the mom, too.

You know how jazz is real fine-grained? Like, there's a lot of shit going on between every two notes, between every note itself? Well, well, well, Lamb music is LIKE THAT, is what I'm trying to say. Do you get what I mean?

Not to mention that Ms. Rhodes writes incredible lyrical word stuff that's just real good. She has a weird voice, lilto-twango-strangeness, but it works real well with the music. And the lyrics are brain-twisting and worthwhile. Like for example "Cottonwool," the third track on "Lamb", is maybe the best love song ever written. [OK, I think Massive Attack's "Protection" is pretty close, but it's really a toss up. But "Protection" is more of a horrible song, and "Cottonwool" is beautiful and dysfunctional.]

Frankly, the whole album is just really good for sex, is where I'm going with this.

OK, BUT, I think I should get around to talking about "Fear of Fours." I actually bought this CD about 2 months ago, even though it wasn't yet available in the US, because I was all excited that Lamb had a new album. I NEVER buy import albums, by the way. I figure if Sony Entertainment doesn't think I'm ready for some music from another country, I should wait until they say it's OK. I just want to point out that this was an EXCEPTION of MAJOR proportion.

See, I thought, "I can get a jump on all the other reviewers! HAW HAW! Because *I* have the IMPORT ALBUM!" I must say I thought myself quite clever. But then, a flock of procrastination set in, and I never got around to doing the review, and the US release was July 27, and now I am the King of Suck. But I'll be DAMNED if I don't do a review ANYWAYS.

So, "Fear of Fours" has a big-ass HEXAGON on the cover, and everywhere there's lots of hexagons, which is cool because it means Rhodes and Barlow appreciate the fine engineering points of Buckminster Fuller. A good idea! I dunno where the name "Fear of Fours" comes from, or whether is a quote or not. That's usually the kind of thing they have in press releases the record company sends to music editors, but I didn't get no press release, so I'm as much in dark on this one as you folks are.

The music inside is still very Lamb-y. Everything I said above about "Lamb" still goes, but they've mellowed out a bit. The total franticness of "Lamb" has given way a bit to a more continuous, pleasurable, long-term high. There's the same kind of dreamy, freaky lyricism in "All In Your Hands" and "Fly." But I was surprised by some of the really pounding-ass tracks, like "Ear Parcel." Like, think steamy alleys somewhere in Los Angeles in the Future, and people in black body suits. That kind of stuff.

Anyways, check out Lamb! "Fear of Fours"! Lamb is still good for SEX. If you're still skeptical, Here's some good links to Lamb stuff on the Web:

• A cool Lamb fan site
• Lamb official page, with downloadable tracks and shit.

oarsman@pigdog.org