*** Brave Combo

GROUP DANCE EPIDEMIC

(Rounder)

As Texas's best (and only) new-wave polka sextet, Brave Combo have in the past interpreted "Stairway to Heaven" as a swing tune, "Hava Nagileh" as a twist, and "Satisfaction" as a cha-cha. So it's not surprising to find them weaving bits of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" into the "The Hustle" or quoting Ellington's "Cottontail" in the version of "The Bunny Hop" that appears on Group Dance Epidemic, a disc that goes so far as to feature dance-step instructions for each tune in the CD booklet. In this group's capable hands, "The Hokey Pokey" gets both a rock (with Led Zep drums and twang guitar) and a cowbell-funk go-go reading. Other, (relatively) straightforward numbers take us globetrotting for a taste of a Greek sailor's dance, a Mexican hat dance, an Israeli folk dance, and a Cuban conga line. But Brave Combo are less interested in giving a world-music seminar than in reminding us how much fun formal dance steps can be when they're named things like "The Hokey Pokey," "Hand Jive," and of course "The Hustle."

-- Roni Sarig