THE CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

“Birtha” (Dunhill). Hi! I’m Chickie! Fly me to Quaalude! In which Gabriel Mekler, sly devil, combines heavy music cliches with four female musicians, none of whom seem to have last names. There is the enigmatic soft song, “She Was Good To Me,” so maybe they’re a buncha dykes or love their mothers. This could all be rationalized by some eager feminist theorist — women have never played macho rock before, and last names are patronymics after all — but it would still be lousy. D.