Mission Accomplished, but ‘Stuff’s a Wonder

Compare these two overheard observations about the Mission U.K. and the Wonder Stuff when the English bands shared a bill at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday. On the Mission: “They sound like everybody, and they sound like nobody.” And the Wonder Stuff: “They sound like nobody else.”

The headlining Mission piled up many influences and styles--from Sgt. Pepper psychedelia to Led Zep weightiness--yet operated in an artistic void. On the other hand, the Stuff, with perhaps even more identifiable influences, made its folk-rock/grunge-rock brew seem effortlessly original.

Encores of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot” (a solo acoustic spot for head Missionary Wayne Hussey) and the Cure’s “In Between Days” provided the only real context for the Mission’s music. But the Wonder Stuff’s surprising melding of John Lennon’s tortured “Gimme Me Some Truth” and Jane’s Addiction’s equally tormented “Jane Says” served to sharpen and expand already winning impressions. And where Hussey performed as if he has some heavy message to impart, the Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt looked as if he was doing this just because he felt like it.