The debut album by Virginia's
Ann Beretta is one of their most consistent and enjoyable -- for its first two-thirds, anyway. Unfortunately, with 19 songs in 66 minutes,
Bitter Tongues wears out its welcome some time before it actually ends. With some judicious pruning -- "MCA" and "FM" cover the same basic themes, and one could have been dropped easily, and the sluggish, overlong "Mary" would be much more effective with a faster tempo and about half the playing time --
Bitter Tongues would be a pop-punk treasure. As it stands, it's the best of an inconsistent lot. ~ Stewart Mason