Black Grape: Stupid Stupid Stupid

Black Grape's Shaun Ryder, best known as the former leader of the once-hyped late-'80s/early-'90s Manchester band Happy Mondays, belongs to the Keith Richards/Shane MacGowan family of Rock Stars Who Somehow Haven't Died, despite widely publicized addictions to heroin and crack. Now resembling the grim specter of death, Ryder is releasing Stupid Stupid Stupid, his second album as the frontman of the clumsily hedonistic dance/rock/funk/ soul band Black Grape. With its occasional dancehall vocals, electronic dance beats, touches of organs and horns, and lyrics covering such hard-hitting topics as drugs ("Get Higher") and sex ("Squeaky"), Stupid Stupid Stupid mostly just shuffles warmed-over Happy Mondays ingredients. Ryder's shrill, tuneless vocals sound flatter and less inspired as the album progresses, while the band's most prominently placed sample—a drug-themed impersonation of Ronald Reagan—nicely symbolizes just how far Ryder's music and ideas have progressed since 1988.