**1/2 Apollo Four Forty

GETTIN' HIGH ON YOUR OWN SUPPLY

(Epic)

"Are we a rock band or what?" is the title of the minute-long ambient intro to this Liverpudlian big-beat techno outfit's third album, in mocking tribute to electronica's aspirations toward such "forward-looking" genres as prog and demijazz. But with shades of Hendrix, the Temptations, and the Beach Boys spread across most of Gettin' High on Your Own Supply, it appears that Apollo Four Forty are attempting to regress past the mere rock of their Van-Halen-riff-driven 1998 single "Talkin' 'bout Dub" all the way back to classic rock and roll.

"Stop the Rock" is about as primitive-sounding as dance music ever gets, piling Nuggets' Farfisa and haunted-house sound effects onto three and a half minutes of riff skank guaranteed to get the frat jocks bobbing up and down. This is what it sounds like when DJs cry 96 tears. But if Fatboy Slim (not to mention almost every band on the Nuggets box set) are singles specialists who can't help coming up short over the long haul, why would we expect anything different from Apollo Four Forty? Riff-rock dance music simply gets dull if it isn't taught stupid pet tricks at every turn. So even if the way each "Hey man!" makes the song "Crazee Horse" sound like a post-verbal version of "Suffragette City" doesn't drive you nuts, its failure to break into a "Awwwwwww . . . Wham! Bam! Thank you ma'am!" probably will.

-- Kevin John

(Apollo Four Forty play Axis this Friday, February 25. Call 931-2000.)