DOVES UNRAVEL

You’d assume a band that wryly salutes both “Miami Vice” and the Flintstones with its first album title--”Bedrock Vice”--would tend to sidestep self-importance. Well, the band in question, Thrashing Doves, completely shattered that assumption in a smug, soulless concert Friday at the Roxy.

On “Bedrock Vice,” the English quartet merges disparate musical elements to produce some classic-yet-modern backdrops for brainy, occasionally witty, tales about everything from Vietnamese boat people to heroin addiction. But what on record often seems impressive ambition unraveled into distressing pretension at the Roxy.

What happened? For starters, it turns out the band has far more ideas than soul. For another, the Doves came across as a slick revue, incapable of generating much emotional horsepower. And lead singer Ken Foreman delivered his quivering vocals in an icy, aloof manner that submerged the droll intelligence of the songs and further ensured that the show would remain cold and sterile.