Copyright 1993 Newsday, Inc.    
Newsday
June 4, 1993, Friday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
SECTION: PART II/WEEKEND; Pg. 87
Other Edition: City Pg. 79
LENGTH: 1078 words
HEADLINE: STEPPING BACK INTO THE '60s AND '70s;
Jellyfish Is a Tasty - If Sometimes Familiar - Catch
BYLINE: Wayne Robins; Denise Flaim
BODY:

     JELLYFISH, which appears tonight at the Academy, is as
appealing as it is sometimes frustrating. Main writers Andy Sturmer
and Roger Manning compose gorgeous melodies that lend their songs
an immediate familiarity - the effortless catchiness of their tun
es sometimes recalls the buoyant pop of Squeeze. But they sometimes
come so close to the material that inspired them - '60s Beatles /
Beach Boys pop and '70s power pop - that the line blurs between
homage and copy.
     The band's second album, "Spilt Milk" (Charisma), features a
song called "The Ghost at Number One" that is pure Beach Boys
redux, from the soaring harmonies to orchestral intimations of "God
Only Knows." At the fade, it recalls "Good Vibrations," right d
own to what sounds like a theremin. "Hush," the album's opening
track, is an exercise in Brian Wilson harmonics.
     But "The Ghost at Number One" isn't the only spirit hovering
over the album. "Bye Bye Bye" is a condensed visitation to Paul
McCartney's past, from "Sgt. Pepper" to Wings. It's no surprise
that Ringo Starr covered a Sturmer-Manning song ("I Don't Believe
 You") on "Time Takes Time," his most recent album.
     Other material on "Spilt Milk," like "Joining a Fan Club,"
evokes Beatle-wannabes like Badfinger and the Raspberries: On "Fan
Club," Sturmer does an imitation of the Raspberries' Eric Carmen
that's so skillful it sounds like a voiceprint.
     The layered production techniques of the '70s are laid on
thick by a team that includes Albhy Galuten, who worked on many Bee
Gees records from that era. (Galuten also produced Jellyfish's 1990
debut album). Most of the times the production suits the son
gs, but occasionally, as on the gauzy "Russian Hill," the tracks
are weighed down with pretension.
     Pretension, unfortunately, also mars Jellyfish's lyrics. Only
Elvis Costello should have license to make rhymes like "Truth and
avarice encircle his words like a barber pole. Twisted and useless,
till they disappear in her camisole," as Sturmer and Manni
ng do on "All Is Forgiven." And no one should have license to title
a song "Glutton of Sympathy," which begins: "In the breathless hush
of four a.m., in the dark sits a sad cliche . . . " That kind of
overreach neutralizes some of the surface pleasures of
 "Spilt Milk."

Jellyfish. Tonight at the Academy, 234 W. 43rd St. Antenna also
performs. Show
time 8 p.m. (212) 249-8870.