McLAREN GOES FOR EMOTION

“FANS.” Malcolm McLaren. Island. Malcolm McLaren has built a career on cheeky musical novelties. The Svengali behind the Sex Pistols, Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow, McLaren is like an impish schoolboy doing handsprings in church, and he delights in doing clever, naughty things.

Having explored tribal rhythms from the Bronx to Botswana with his first LP, “Duck Rock,” McLaren has now deduced that the public hungers for emotion rather than pop stars. So he’s plundered the classical vaults for music from some flagrantly sentimental operas, updating and packaging it using nameless studio talents. Pure feeling, declares Malcolm, who has described this LP as “a fabulous marriage of European emotion and New York rhythm, combining the charms of the opera box with the excitement of the dance floor.”

Not a bad concept, but only one cut here really works. McLaren’s rendition of the aria from “Madame Butterfly” combines a haunting chorus, a beautiful melody and the impressive vocal skills of Debbie Cole, so it really soars. McLaren’s recasting of Bizet’s “Carmen” as a Times Square hooker isn’t quite so successful, however, because there’s nothing to the piece melodically. In fact, the LP’s central flaw is the fact that these classical disco “songs” are basically synthesized pastiches that go up in smoke when the plug is pulled.

McLaren is essentially an idea man in love with theories and concepts, and he approaches music in an extremely intellectual way. His great spirit of irreverence breathes occasional life into what could easily have been no more than a dry exercise, but a cute idea and one great vocal (Cole’s) are not much value for your album dollar.