ALBUM REVIEW

LITTLE VILLAGE

“Little Village”

Reprise

* * * 1/2 All-star bands tend to sound like patchwork quilts of personalities. But Villagers John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner weave a cohesive tapestry, made of classic roots-rock fiber and embroidered with delightful strands of invention and eccentricity.

The vocal blend (with the exceptional Hiatt singing most of the leads) often recalls the Band’s warm, loamy togetherness; the rich, complex instrumental arrangements come across with the offhanded ease of old back-porch picking partners. For the most part, Little Village plays it for fun, grinning through playful sexual double-entendres, or taking hang-dog love songs deep into left field (on the NRBQ-ish “Don’t Go Away” and “Take Another Look,” a willfully quirky blend of sunny African guitars and druggy atmospherics).

The band can shuffle along at an easygoing gait (Lowe’s charming, Smokey Robinson-flavored “Fool Who Knows”), or serve up a muscular stomp (the hilarious “Don’t Bug Me While I’m Working”). When Little Village pauses for reflection, the results are splendid: “Do You Want My Job” is a simple but telling portrait of Third World economic desperation, and “Don’t Think About Her When You Drive,” the album’s emotional peak, is a heartbreak ballad of uncommon beauty and depth of feeling.

In terms of sales, these cult heroes and pop-chart underachievers know all too well what it’s like to hang separately; perhaps in hanging together they’ll find the broader success they’ve already earned on merit.