I had a dream last night that I was walking down the street and I ran into the lead singer of Def Leppard. And there were all these other guys in studded leather jackets with perfectly coiffured head-bangin' hair milling around looking pouty. Now I'm not sure what that means--except that maybe Enuff Z' Nuff's album is giving me some serious 80's flashbacks. I remember them from my days as an aficionado of Headbanger's Ball (where did you go Rikki Rachman?) where for every five cheesy hair band one real ass-kicking video might hit your screen. The memory is hazy but I seem to remember an annoying video with metal-ish (note the "ish") guitar amidst peace signs and other symbols of psychedelia. Well, unfortunately that hasn't changed much.

It's just too easy to do the obvious so I'll say it another way. Enuff Z' Nuff just doesn't know when to say when. Having achieved some very minor success in 1989 with singles from their first album like "Fly High Michelle" and "New Thing" they proceeded to continue putting out albums that went straight into the $.99 cent bin at the local record store.

To quote Douglas Adams, this latest effort is mostly harmless. Called "10" but with a peace symbol in the middle of the "0" (so of course no journalist will ever get the title right in their column; not the best idea--even Prince cut that out). Their music isn't offensive. Unless of course one finds poor attempts at Brit-pop to be off-putting. In which case--well . . . this is not for you. Oh and by the way--anyone else remember a little outfit called Pearl Jam releasing a record called "Ten" in 1991?

The first song on the album, "There Goes My Heart," which I guess is the big single, comes on with all the best effort to be Oasis--minus the Gallagher brothers' car accident-like magnetism. The album pretty much continues that way, And to be honest I was 3/4 of the way the 4th song before I realized that the song had changed. Of course with a title and a chorus that consists of "Your heart's no good . . . But I love your face" (the grammar mistake is theirs not mine!) how could I not pay attention. The harshest criticism of this album comes in reference to their painful cover of Bowie's classic "Jean Genie." I cry to the world--when will bands learn? They didn't even strive for their own poor interpretation. They merely copied the original and did it horribly.

So if you're looking for catchy pop metal Bon Jovi style--which no matter how bad you think it is, you do find yourself humming it later (I know--it happened to me) or for serious head banging (Lemmy may be ugly but Motorhead is still the one of the best that's out there) forget it. You might tap your foot to the rhythm guitar in "What Can I do to Make You Cry" but mercifully you won't remember a thing when you take the headphones off.