Wayne - music on plastic

In any other context, nostalgia for something less than a decade old is absurd. However, with the seismic shifts that took place in end-of-the-century pop – led by the twin juggernauts of rap rock and prefab teen "musicians" – one can be forgiven for getting misty eyed at the thought of mid-90s alternative music. You know, that old fashioned, hook-laden American guitar rock that was oh-so inescapable throughout the post-Kurt, pre-Britney years – that good stuff you can’t even give away for free anymore. Wayne are the latest new old-schoolers: graduates of the class of 95, all dressed up and looking for somewhere to rock. For the most part, their album music on plastic is a cryogenically frozen time capsule of a past era, replete with standard-issue fuzz boxes and all-too-familiar midtempo minor-chord ballads. To their credit, Wayne stray from the blueprint long enough to make it interesting. The country flourishes on "Take Me Home" and "With Regards" help the band stand out a bit, and singer/songwriter Rodney Reaves has some genuine chops and a welcome set of Brit-pop inflections, both of which are in fine form on the utterly infectious "Whisper". Yet even these high points cannot sustain the remainder of the disc. Which is a real shame - the rest of the album isn’t necessarily bad (it would have been a surefire hit years ago), just unremarkable. With every repeat listen, the nagging generic-ness of music on plastic becomes harder and harder to ignore. Sad to say, but simply being workmanlike isn’t going to cut it these days. Could Wayne catch on? A difficult proposition to be sure, but more than enough awful music is floating around today to make anything seem refreshing. Plus, there’s still some mileage left in the post-grunge formula, as evidenced by the simple fact that STP and Bush are still putting out albums. Yet music on plastic begs the question - if an angst-filled rocker wails in the forest but no one is around to hear, does he still make a sound? [www.waynemusic.com]