Juliana Hatfield: Bed

The screeches of feedback that open Juliana Hatfield's new Bed, not to mention the Fiona Apple-like victim pose assumed by the singer on the cover and in the CD booklet, suggest that she might be trying to prove something on her new album, expanding her sound in new directions. Nope. Bed is another Juliana Hatfield album, which is just fine. For an album reportedly recorded over three days and conceived and written in only a few weeks, Bed sounds remarkably accomplished. One hook-rich song follows another, and even if only a couple really stick out, the cumulative effect is pleasing. Those that do stick out include "Swan Song," with its unexpected John Mellencamp allusion, and the album-closing fantasy of throwing money away, "Let's Blow It All." And If radio stations weren't so obsessed with chasing the newest trend, a song like "Bad Day" would surely be a hit. Hatfield turns up the crunch on her guitar a bit, but it's still the sound of late-'80s/early-'90s college rock that drives Hatfield's songs, a fact that looks more like a commitment to vision than a lack of creativity as the years go by.