** The Rock*A*Teens

A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL

(Merge)

The Rock*A*Teens (named after a one-hit-wonder band of the '50s), from Cabbagetown, Georgia, have an extraordinary defining sound: mammoth, dramatic ballads that suggest Roy Orbison singles pitched up about five levels of desperation (another point of similarity: practically all their songs are about crying) and played with grit, disregard for tuning, and enough reverb to fill the Grand Canyon. On their first few albums, if you listened past the reverb, there was some pretty extraordinary songwriting going on too. This time, though, the songwriting seems just an excuse for the sound. The density of guitar smog seems to have diminished too, maybe because the band have lost two members since last year's Cry and replaced just one of them.

When they're on, the Rock*A*Teens are still jarring and refreshing: "N.Y. by Helicopter" has something that sounds like a banjo making its way through the garage haze, and "I Could've Just Died" is a classic wall-of-sound weeper with an army of tambourines crashing in. But for most of Baby, they drag their songs along instead of being pursued by them.

-- Douglas Wolk