The world of psych pop is having a bit of a nostalgia attack right now, what with the mega-B-sides compilation from Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine actually getting back together, something appearing from the Gallagher brothers, and new releases from the Verve and the Dandy Warhols. Not to mention all those first-time-around bands taking a  whack at the sound.

I can't say that anyone is getting it exactly right, but at least they're trying. We've got half a decent record from the Verve and a bit less than that from the Warhols. But the interesting part is how the one fits into the vacuum left by the other one. The Warhols are feckless and self-satisfied; the Verve take themselves too seriously but they sound huge.

First the Warhols. Despite the bloat of the last two records there's always been at least a glimmer to pay attention to (see 'Easy' and '...Totally Insane'). Courtney Taylor has a wicked sense of humor, a way with a biting lyric, and the self-absorption to sound totally sincere when he's mocking his own scene. They've got killer pop instincts melded with an ability to sound weird in just the right way.

Or at least they did, back in the late nineties. Now they're some kind of stoner punk band: chugging away at half speed while Courtney drones snarkily about getting high. As far as I can tell they've even abandoned bridges: the songs start with promise and then settled into a groove that no one - not even Lou Reed himself - is going to shift them out of it for the next four and a half minutes. Earth to the Dandy Warhols: put down the bong and have a go at a second verse, please.

The Dandy Warhols fell into the habit of aw-shucking their own talent, as if they were only ever here to have a good time, and the partying is about all that's left any more. The Verve, by comparison, have never stopped meaning business. They've always sounded huge as a thundercloud, and Ashcroft has always sung every note like either his heart or your heart was about to break. The Warhols would do well to listen to what it sounds like to really mean it.

The catch? Ashcroft has the voice, but he's no good at writing lyrics. When he's really trying, he gets one good verse or a chorus, and then builds a song out of endlessly repeating it (that would be Bittersweet Symphony; also "Love Is Noise" from "Forth"). It's almost better when he writes a couple so-so verses and lets the rest of the band bury him. His voice is enough of an instrument.

On "Forth" (nice thundercloud on the cover, by the way), you can just about hear the battle of wills between Ashcroft and McCabe, the band's visionary guitarist. (A battle that has broken up the band twice before, incidentally.) On half the songs Ashcroft leans toward some ill-advised form of blue-eyed soul, even sinking as low as falsetto backing vocals at one point. I'm telling you, it gets hard to keep driving when a song is making you wince that much. 

But the other half of the album, particularly the opener, "Sit and Wonder," is magnificent. Their sound starts with their gargantuan rhythm section and on it McCabe builds tower after tower and cloud after cloud. And when Ashcroft comes in, he's so committed to the song it really doesn't matter what he's singing. (It helps that this first song "Sit and Wonder," is about someone being clueless about where he or his relationship are going; glad to see Ashcroft hasn't grown out of this part of his life.) But this is what the Verve has always done well: vault you over the moon and be heartbroken about it.

So if the Warhol's latest is, in Douglas Adams's words, Mostly harmless, the Verve's is the view from the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Let's hope the Warhols get more dangerous next time around. As for the Verve, let's just hope they don't implode again. Maybe they'll each take a step toward the other.

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p.s. Let me just say I appreciate the Verve's directness with song titles. Amid the current fad for thinking up verbose, nonsensical titles (I blame Yo La Tengo for starting this), how about a 9 minute feedback romp called "Noise Epic"? Almost as dead on as "Brainstorm Interlude."

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