A classic! "The first album by Kurt Ralske, a native New Yorker who spent stretches in Boston and London before signing to 4AD records, is musically an intriguing and eclectic record that mixes pure pop and noise experiments better than any album since the Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy. (My Bloody Valentine was working similar territory at the same time, but Ralske's fondness for the pop hook, best heard on the first single "She Screamed," was far more obvious.) The U.S. edition, which came out a full four years after the U.K. release, adds the enjoyably over-the-top 12" remake of "Hail Mary," which works up an impressive head of Scott Walker-like pathos." -- Stewart Mason