FASTBALL
(Tractor Tavern) Fastball are best known for a couple of very radio-friendly tunes that came out with their debut album, All the Pain Money Can Buy. The new album, due out soon, is already being touted for its potential to find much airplay in the days to come. But the fact that they are playing at the intimate, unpretentious Tractor should throw even them something of a curve ball. KRIS ADAMS

MIKE WATT & A PAIR OF PLIERS, THE BAND THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS
(Crocodile) From his earliest venture as bassist for the seminal punk band the Minutemen to subsequent outings with Firehose and his own solo career, Watt is venerated. His Contemplating the Engine Room, an allegorical album paralleling the life of Watt, his Navy father, and that of his close friend and bandmate the late D. Boon, was a first as a "punk opera," testifying that a genre too often dismissed as simply a metaphorical middle finger to the mainstream can just as easily be eloquent and thoughtful. In a time when modern punk often flirts dangerously with the TRL masses, Mike Watt stands as an eye in a confused storm, a light showing what punk is truly about--that flannel is still cool when the wearer is still core. KRIS ADAMS

THE SPOOZYS
(Graceland) The Spoozys claim to be from various parts of outer space, though a more conservative (and accurate) guess has them hailing from Tokyo. The band members take the stage in space suits and drive a hard brand of Devo-inspired technopop, incorporating elements of new wave and punk. And they don't slow down for earthlings (they are, after all, from outer space). KRIS ADAMS

CLINTON FEARON & THE BOOGIE BROWN BAND
(Bohemian) As unlikely as it is that a founding father of reggae music would wind up here, Clinton Fearon lives and walks among us in Seattle. Now middle-aged and the leader of the Boogie Brown Band, Fearon was once one of the most sought-after session bassists in Jamaica and a member of the Gladiators, a legendary Roots-era group. Thousands of miles from his island home and a quantum leap from his childhood in the Jamaican countryside, Fearon's singing and guitar blend perfectly with the very talented Boogie Brown Band, resulting in a group so together it's amazing. Still making new music, still fresh and exuberant on stage, we are very lucky to have Fearon as a neighbor. KRIS ADAMS

Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes: Live at the Greek is the latest venture for Led Zeppelin founder and guitarist Page, who has teamed up with the Black Crowes for the time being. Recorded during a performance at the Greek in L.A., this live album features a main course of Led Zeppelin classics with a few vintage blues numbers on the side.

I find it hard to critique Jimmy Page. He is almost a deity to me, and I expected nothing less than the best from him, which he delivers, playing his signature riffs perfectly and at times pausing to tease an audience who knows what's going to happen and can't wait. The real issue here is the Black Crowes, who are supposed to be backing him on these Zeppelin staples. Happily, the results are very good. Page himself has complimented the Crowes' ability to pick up the nuances of Zeppelin's music, and it's all there, from John Paul Jones' bass lines to John Bonham's drum beats. Instrumentally, it's a great interpretation of the original.

But the biggest surprise comes from the Crowes' singer Chris Robinson, who is called to the monumental task of singing in Robert Plant's stead. Plant's howling and crooning was and is the perfect compliment to Jimmy Page's guitar, so it is with no small irony that anyone other than Plant himself should get behind the microphone and try to sing "What Is and What Should Never Be" or "In My Time of Dying" while Page does his thing.

But Robinson performs beautifully, sounding like Robert Plant without making the mistake of trying to be Robert Plant, the vain path taken by certain members of the '80s hair band community who shall go nameless here. His vocal range accommodates Plant's style as well as anyone, but you're still hearing Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes.

So the Black Crowes pull it off, as well they should. Their languid Southern rock has a throwback element to it that belies an obvious Zeppelin influence. Robinson himself said that "there's always been a healthy dose of Zeppelinesque qualities to our records." It would seem, then, that the Black Crowes are merely paying homage to their roots; and with Jimmy Page behind them, they don't lose. KRIS ADAMS