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Nuclear Lipstick, Crazy Mary’s sophomore release, is going to sound a bit different from their first disc. For one thing, Em Z (not a rapper, let me assure you) is sharing lead vocal chores with guitarist/composer Charles Kibel; the other is that Walter Steding, a violinist, is a permanent member of the band, and handling lead instrument chops as well. I’m not wild about a fiddle or violin as a prominent instrument in a rock band. It’s been done before, of course. Bob Dylan’s DESIRE CD, It’s A Beautiful Day, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Jefferson Airplane, and of course, who could forget John Cale in the Velvet Underground…in most cases, however, it doesn’t add anything and sounds more like an affectation, like that annoying little kid brother who keeps trying to elbow himself to the front of the line. There are exceptions (Christian Howes and Miri Ben-Ari come to mind) but this isn’t them.

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what to make of Crazy Mary in general or Nuclear Lipstick in particular. The dreamy Moving In Space seems to go on for hours (but actually clocks in under four minutes). Damn Good…isn’t, but it’s not bad, a somewhat discordant, druggy, slow-paced instrumental that starts off in the middle of nowhere and pretty much stays there. For some reason it brings to mind a trip down a two lane road about seven miles off of I-59 through Mississippi. Even when the band rocks out, on That Same Old Feel Once Again it’s difficult to get a handle on what they’re doing; think Chuck Berry meets Jonathan Richman. And The Promise sounds like The Fugs, off of one of their ESP Disk releases. That, of course, is a compliment. Mistake Number Five, another instrumental, sounds at times like the droning of an intergalactic refrigerator, but at the same time is kind of cool as well. The title of the closing track, Woke Up Mixed Up, really sums things up nicely. And yet…I keep listening over and over to The Dolphins Are Swimming, yet another instrumental -- too short, by half --- which vaguely reminds me of The Garden Is Open by The Fugs.

People are either going to love or hate Nuclear Lipstick. Or maybe a bit of both. I have yet to make up my mind, entirely. My feeling right now is that I might not walk across the street to see Crazy Mary but that I’ll nonetheless be playing Nuclear Lipstick --- occasionally --- ten years from now.