Elastica ［LP+7inch］＜限定盤＞

Rolling Stone (1/25/96, p.41) - Ranked #4 in the 1996 Critics' Poll. Rolling Stone (5/18/95, pp.88-90) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Impetuous, smart and loud, Elastica rival any of their contemporaries, and with this album, they arrive with a quick-witted bang..." Spin (12/95, p.62) - Ranked #4 on Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums of '95.' Spin (5/95, p.94) - 9 - Highly Recommended - "...Influences:...Blondie and the Waitresses minus the guys named Chris, the Buzzcocks going shopping....Easily THE makeout album for kids who don't have time to play spin the bottle." Entertainment Weekly (4/7/95, p.91) - "...Justine Frischmann's awkward sex-in-a-Ford-Fiesta forwardness (`Car Song') can charm your pants off..." - Rating: B+ Alternative Press (7/01, p.96) - Included in AP's "10 Essential Women's Rock Albums" - "...Inspiring a whole new generation of girls to get up and play..." Option (7-8/95, pp.102-104) - "...the three-women/one-man British band cranks out some crisp new coleslaw, silmultaneously tart and sweet, their debut a fresh mash of peppery pop and Saccharine screech..." Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #21 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...defiantly, sardonically, bleakly, energetically, brilliantly a NOW band. Post-punk with no illusions, no fillers." Musician (6/95, p.72) - "...the right mix of smile and snarl....Justine Frischmann...is a versatile writer whose songs are as melodic as they are direct, explosive as they are concise....perfectly punked-up pop-rock..." Village Voice (2/20/96) - Ranked #4 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. New York Times (Publisher) (1/6/96, p.C16) - Included on Jon Pareles' list of the Top 10 Albums of `95 - "...Justine Frischmann and Donna Matthews revive the concision and clear-cut guitar riffs of late-1970's new wave while they analyze the latest twists in modern courtship..." NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #11 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...Fuelled by a grimy, punk-rock aesthetic, yet oozing glamour and sporting the snappiest, snarliest pop songs this side of the Old Wave of New Wave..."

Elastica's debut album may cop a riff here and there from Wire or the Stranglers, yet no more than Led Zeppelin did with Willie Dixon or the Beach Boys with Chuck Berry. The key is context. Elastica can make the rigid artiness of Wire into a rocking, sexy single with more hooks than anything on Pink Flag ("Connection") or rework the Stranglers' "No More Heroes" into a more universal anthem that loses none of its punkiness ("Waking Up"). But what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics. The riffs are angular like early Adam & the Ants, the melodies tease like Blondie, and the entire band is as tough as the Clash, yet they never seem anything less than contemporary. Justine Frischmann's detached sexuality adds an extra edge to her brief, spiky songs -- "Stutter" roars about a boyfriend's impotence, "Car Song" makes sex in a car actually sound sexy, "Line Up" slags off groupies, and "Vaseline" speaks for itself. Even if the occasional riff sounds like an old wave group, the simple fact is that hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine