Rotation

Once you've done a soft-shoe routine to "The Sun Comes Down," there's not much left to do but repeat the same goofy little dance to "Tilting Windmills" and "Painters Paint." Maybe it's to O'Hagan's credit that he writes and performs lounge music with a genuine smile rather than a smirk, but it still doesn't add up to the seamless whole that he intends. Where Wilson risked commercial disaster and his sanity pushing himself to places he'd never been, O'Hagan consciously chooses to trap himself in the netherworld between sleek pop and true art. Cold and Bouncy is music of the heart made straight from the head. (****)

-- Keith Moerer

CDs rated on a one to five star scale.