Also this issue:

Burn, Viacom, Burn
When the music biz destroys itself, Chuck D will get to say “I told you so.”
-Chris Parker

No Looking Back
After coming to terms with their past, Wire go back to the future.
-Sam Adams

David Alvarado
-A.D. Amorosi

Gene
-Sam Adams

Sparta
-Andrew Parks

Exile Follies
-Chris Parker

Rudy Adrian
-A.D. Amorosi

The Gig
-Nate Chinen on Jazz

September 19-25, 2002

musicpicks

Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone

Sometimes knowing your history only gets you in trouble. If Rod Argent's name is only familiar from such schlocky '70s hits as "Hold Your Head Up" and "God Gave Rock & Roll to You," you'll be in hog heaven Saturday night. If, on the other hand, the combination of Argent and singer Colin Blunstone calls up memories of The Zombies' elegantly textured British invasion pop, you're in for a long, long fall. Out of the Shadows (Redhouse), which reunites the two on record for the first time, sounds like everyone from Hall & Oates to REO Speedwagon, but like The Zombies not at all. Full of cheesy session axework and indifferently trite sentiment ("When I was young/ thought I could fly/ Dreamed one day maybe I would touch the sky"), it's a punishing experience, one that, when they take the stage, makes you more afraid that they will play Zombies songs than that they won't.

Sat., Sept. 21, 8 p.m., $29-$34, with Al Stewart, The Keswick Theatre, 291 Keswick Ave., 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com.

—Sam Adams