Radio Hits Vol.2

The follow-up to 1994's Radio Hits, Radio Hits, Vol. 2 gathers all of Welsh indie kids Helen Love's singles and EPs from the intervening three years. The time span of this compilation just happens to correspond to the one of the most vibrant periods in the U.K. and U.S. pop underground, when young bands directly inspired by both the C-86 groups and the D.I.Y. ethic promoted by the likes of Sarah Records in the U.K. and K Records in the U.S. were connecting via the burgeoning Internet. Indeed, one of the best songs here, "Matthew Kaplan Superstar," is a tribute to a New York-area DJ and indie scene maven who was one of the mainstays of indie pop-related e-mail lists during this period, immortalized with the instant-classic couplet "I think he's finer than Rodney Bingenheimer/But not by much, because he's also cool and plays our records too." Much like the somewhat earlier band the Pooh Sticks (purveyors of quality snark like the immortal "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well") and even the punk-era scene parodists the Freshies ("I Can't Get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes"), Helen Love have a solid line in in-jokey, meta tunes about the band's core audience. The withering "Girl About Town," an acidic portrait of a major-label flop still trying to cling to her It Girl status ("She got her picture in Rolling Stone, third from the left behind Joey Ramone/You couldn't see her face but I'm sure she looked great anyway"), even if it wasn't directed at one has-been in particular, certainly rang true to anyone whose local scene had a similar figure in it. But most of the 12 tracks on Radio Hits, Vol. 2 are thrillingly ephemeral two-minute slices of twee buzzsaw pop-punk powered by overdriven, buzzy keyboards and distorted guitars underneath the pseudonymous Helen Love's bratty, heavily accented vocals. (Much like the original Alice Cooper, Helen Love is the name of both the singer and the band as a whole.) Career highlights like the sulky "Diet Coke Girl," the snotty kiss-off "Bubblegum" (debuting a breakup metaphor that Scandinavian synth-dance star Annie would ride to the top of the charts a decade or so later), and the aesthetic-defining anthem "We Love You" (here in two versions) are among the best things Helen Love have ever done. Actually, as reliably fun and catchy as all of Helen Love's albums are for those attuned to this brand of bubblegum pop-punk disco, Radio Hits, Vol. 2 is probably their most consistent blast of nonstop fizzy fun. ~ Stewart Mason