THE BLUEBELLS (Sire EP):: U2 sans the wallof-emotion instrumental density, or Dexy’s Midnight Runners without the hokey Celtic-jig overtones, the Scot lads in the Bluebells have stripped pop down to barer bones than even the skeletal punks suspected. Bright, earnest folkrock (that doesn’t even dream psychedelia’s around the corner), songs with plenty of slots to insert messages of love & topicality. Shoulda known Elvis Costello would like this, enough even to add his trueblue production and voice to the Bluebells’ “Aim In Life.” As citizens of the U.K., the Bluebells gotta have some fashion gimmick, too, and theirs appears to be stylized work shirts (colorcoded, y’see), but pay that no mind, music’s good f nough to justify any cosmetic hijinx. R.R.

THE SMITHEREENS-Beauty And Sadness '(Little Ricky):: The back cover of this disarming EP, filled as it is with candid recording session photos, brings to mind the Byrd’s Fifth Dimension album, and that’s the tip-off for where the collective heart of the New York area-based Smithereens lies—namely, in the realm of the painstakingly crafted, committed-to-excellence pop music senses of bygone times. Under the watchful eye and sympathetic ear of benefactor Alan Betrock, the Smithereens have fashioned quite an eye-opening little record, from the can’tshake-that-guitar-riff-loose, Love-like “Tracey’s World” to the hooks aplenty of “Some Other Guy,” and from the rockabilly sans campiness rouser “Much Too Much” to the not overly selfconscious psychedelic strains of the introspective title track. Like another famous back cover once proclaimed: “To be listened to in the-spirit in which it was made.” (Available from Little Ricky Recods, 1133 Broadway, Suite 1107, New York, NY 10010). B.A.