CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
THE BEACH BOYS: "L.A. (Light Album" (Caribou):: I quite like the electronic disco extension of "Here Comes The Night," but more as an oddity than a positive pleasure. The chief positive pleasure—Brian's "Good Timin' is not a new^song. What is new is the banality of the orchestration' on "Lady Lynda".
GHRISTGAN CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
by
THE BEACH BOYS: "L.A. (Light Album" (Caribou):: I quite like the electronic disco extension of "Here Comes The Night," but more as an oddity than a positive pleasure. The chief positive pleasure—Brian's "Good Timin' is not a new^song. What is new is the banality of the orchestration' on "Lady Lynda". C +
THE BOOMTOWN RATS: "A Tonic For The Troops'* (Columbia):: Satisfied owners of the group's Mercury debut might spring for the import (on Ensign), since this repeats two of the better tunes from that new wave no-sale. And seekers after straight-ahead cacophony might look around for the Mercury. But though this does turn rather campy at times— Bob Geldof's cheerfully narsty opportunism has lost body and focus—it will certainly do. I'll take a good calculating song about Adolf Hitler over an ordinary calculating song about the perils of romance any day, and if you're heading your music toward the rock mainstream, wit and flash don't hurt. B +