MARSHALL CRENSHAW

Field Day

(Warner Bros.)

Marshall Crenshaws first album was like a tuneful adaptation of an ad from the Voices personal/classified columns: Lookin for a brand new lover, a cynical girl who doesnt bother with the usual thing and likes to go rockin around in N.Y.C. (dancing abilities optional). It was as though Dobie wants a girl whos dreamy, wants a girl whos creamy, wants a girl to call his own" Gillis was fitted for spectacles, handed a guitar and transported to 82. And Thalia had never left his mind. This second LP, Field Day, finds our hero deeper into the heterosexual fray, and, though he hasnt abandoned his search for creaminess en extremis, hes conceding that the finding thereof doesnt necessarily lead to a cessation of anxiety. This time out, Crenshaw spends as much time brooding over the imponderable sadness of life as he does nuzzling up to cashmere-clad lovelies in biology lab and making grand declarations of undying affection.