Aluminum Group Wonder Boy Plus+ CD

Contains eleven tracks taken from The Aluminum Group's debut album, WONDER BOY, as well as ten previously unavailable tracks.

After releasing The Aluminum Group's second album, 1998's PLANO, Minty Fresh Records rescued the band's 1995 debut from obscurity and augmented the reissue with 10 previously unreleased tracks. There's a certain similarity to the Magnetic Fields in "The Smallest Man In The World," and the beautifully sparse opener, "Chocolates," bears striking resemblance to the beatnik-y jazz-pop of the Young Marble Giants.

Elsewhere, Frank and John Navin's spacious arrangements-heavy on acoustic guitars and upright bass and colored by subtle keyboards-recall Everything But The Girl and Felt. Yet Aluminum Group never resorts to mere mimicry. Admittedly, following up a chamber-pop version of Guns N Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" with a very similar arrangement of Lerner and Lowe's "Loverly" betrays a certain twisted genius. Aluminum Group certainly doesn't rock-even at the Navins' most heated moments, the music just sways gently from side to side-but WONDER BOY PLUS is a soft-pop gem.

Wonder Boy Plus reissues the Aluminum Group's self-released 1995 debut album along with ten bonus tracks; although all of the basic lyrical and musical ingredients that made the subsequent Plano such a treat are in place, it's a curiously enervated record that simply never achieves the majestic peaks of its follow-up. By and large, the material is much more campy than the Navin brothers' subsequent work, ranging from the catty "That Fossil You Call Your Lover" to the worshipful "Come Back Miss Battle" (about famed soprano Kathleen); there's even a delicate rendition of the Guns N' Roses classic "Sweet Child o' Mine." What's lacking is Plano's emotional depth and resonance, as well as its sleek, sophisticated production; Aluminum Group fans will still want Wonder Boy Plus, of course -- it's hardly a bad record -- but it's an inferior substitute for the excellence to follow. ~ Jason Ankeny

Personnel includes: Fareed Haque (guitar).

Personnel: Frank Navin, John Navin, Josh Cohen (guitar); Carlos "Patato" Valdes (violin); Liz Conant (piano, keyboards); Bill Peterson (keyboards); Eddie Carlson (upright bass, electric bass).