Marshall Crenshaw - Miracle Of Science CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

Ed Stasium and the powerhouse backfield of drummer Kenny Aronoff and bassist Fernando Saunders.

Now, Crenshaw is recording for the indie Razor & Tie label and living quietly in Woodstock, N.Y. Following his engaging 1994 live album, My Truck Is My Home, Crenshaw has elected to produce (and play many of the instruments on) a new studio outing that mixes his trademark Beatlesque pop with anthemic soul and barnstorming R&B covers (Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd," Hy Heath's "Who Stole That Train"). New originals like "Starless Summer Sky," "Only an Hour Ago" and "What Do You Dream Of?" offer further proof, if more were needed, that Crenshaw is one of the supreme melodists of rock's last 15 years; fans of Neil Finn and the now-defunct Crowded House should investigate forthwith.

Yet Miracle of Science lacks a vital spark, mainly because Crenshaw's production is too lackluster to lift his performances much above the journeyman level. The beefy snare-drum sound of 1983's Field Day may have seemed gauche back then, but it sounds pretty rich compared with this. Somebody, please: Put this man in a studio with Mitchell Froom. (RS 743)

BARNEY HOSKYNS