Au Pairs

On their second album (released in 1982), the post-punk/New Wave politics of the group's debut gave way to more reflective songs about genuine emotion (hence the album's title), but there's still an underlying jittery syncopation to tracks like "Sex Without Stress." Overall, this album really pushes the exploration of rhythm and sound within post-punk's borders.

The renown of this sorry punk-funk gone pop-jazz is as depressing as anything in the annals of Anglophilia. Lesley Woods's line on free love is as priggish as the rest of her leftism and her separate-but-equal rhythm section couldn't make the earth move if one of them played tractor. Don't blame me for the metaphor, either--it's Lesley's, by way of famed protofeminist E. Hemingway, which proves that she's either open-minded or just plain dumb. Not since the Stranglers has a Brit group sexed it up so unconvincingly. (Grade - C)