Hole's third CD is released four years after "Live through this", the album that came out the month that Courtney Love's husband Kurt Cobain committed suicide. "Celebrity Skin" was produced by Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and compared to its predecessor it sounds tighter, less garish and above all a lot of poppy. The record opens very convincingly with the heavy
… title song (one of the five songs that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan co-wrote) and the beautiful, melodic "Awful". Although the attention diminishes from time to time, especially in the heavier songs, the band is at its best in radio-friendly sixties songs like "Malibu", "Dying", "Boys on the radio" and "Heaven tonight". (W.vd.Z.) _more
