Soho's second American album (and third overall) had the unenviable task of following up the band's 1991 surprise hit, the
Smiths-sampling "Hippychick." Although nothing here approached the catchiness (or commercial reception) of that single,
Thug is a better album overall than its predecessor, boasting a more adventurous sonic palette than the soundalike acid house of
Goddess. The band, produced again by ex-
Bow Wow Wow bassist Leigh Gorman, beefed up their sound by adding generous doses of guitar (courtesy of Timothy London) to the shuffling dance rhythms, approximating the sound of fellow U.K. acts
Jesus Jones and
EMF -- particularly on hook-heavy tunes like "Radio Soul Groove" and "Into the Void."
Soho's attempts to go beyond then-current chart fare produce more mixed results: While "Lucky One" offers a credible dip into harder, breakbeat-fueled dance sounds, and "Hamed and Jacques" is an intriguing
Serge Gainsbourg rewrite, listeners also had to suffer through the awful a cappella "Crazy Bombs" and "Ride," musically just a very inferior version of "Hippychick." The sense of ambition does, however, carry over to the lyrics, which are sometimes inscrutable left-wing sloganeering but occasionally aim for more; "Hawk," seemingly a repudiation of Elijah Muhammed's Islamic racism ("Believe in the myth of Yacub's race/See the devil in the white man's face"), is most notable in that regard. ~ Dan LeRoy