Howard Hampton

Photo by Michael Angelo ChesterPUBLIC ENEMY There's a Poison Goin On (Atomic Pop) If any pop group wants to commit career suicide, there's no better blueprint than Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 classic There's a Riot Goin On: all junkie smiles, bad-news bulletins, slow-death jams and yodeling space cowboys......

Photo by Marcus RothPAVEMENT WORKS HARDER THAN ANY rock band ever has at sounding casual, unrehearsed, even borderline inept. The group's music suggests a grad-student Animal House, a charming-boorish mess of cigarette butts, imported-beer cans, hazing paraphernalia and smart-ass footnotes to unwritten pop-cult dissertations. But underneath the lazy veneer, every......