***1/2 Violent Femmes

FREAK MAGNET

(Beyond)

Let's hear it for second drafts. This album was first set for release on Interscope almost two years ago, when it sounded like the latest in a string of Violent Femmes efforts on which their eccentricity had gotten way out of hand -- 1995's Rock!! was so odd that it came out only in Australia. Interscope yanked Freak Magnet from release at the last minute and sent the band packing. The result is a long-overdue comeback for the Femmes. And as a follow-up to a live album devoted mainly to revisiting songs from their 1983 debut, Freak Magnet finally rescues the Femmes from becoming the first alternative oldies band. Remixed and resequenced, the new Freak Magnet deletes some of the original's weaker material (including a cover of "Positively 4th Street") and adds a handful of obvious singles.

The tracks here are all short and punchy and, for the first time on a Violent Femmes album, nearly all electric-guitar-driven. The Femmes have decided that the best way to win back fans is to head back to garageland. Their old trick of working gospel and bluegrass touches into punk-rock songs still works fine: "Rejoice & Be Happy" could be the Ramones at a revival meeting. Gordon Gano has started writing memorable songs again, regaining the sense of humor that turned sour last time, remembering how to turn a good catch phrase and write a strong hook. There are a couple of hilarious songs (including the hardcore send-up "Mosh Pit") and a few miserable ones, but it all sounds friendly and unforced. On the best tracks -- "Sleepwalking," "At Your Feet," and the psychobilly "I'm Bad" -- Gano proves that he's blossomed from a wise-ass disaffected kid into a wise-ass disaffected grown-up.

-- Brett Milano