Charm is the sort of mediocre record that maintains some appealing elements despite its obviously substandard nature --
Strange Boutique moves through campy, gothic, atmospheric rock without seeming to know where they're going, but a few nicely distant guitars and an occasional sense of drama translate as guilty pleasures. Take a track like "Hills Like White Elephants" -- it may seem like a low-budget goth-rock single and a cheap attempt to demonstrate a knowledge of Hemingway, but it holds some strange interest nonetheless.