Is the Union Jack Coming Back?

Since the Beatles, the special relationship between Britain and America has rarely looked so dysfunctional. The opening of the 2,000th Year of Our Lord and 46th Year of Our King--dating from Presley’s debut single, of course--will find Americans enjoying thudding rap-rock, street-minded hip-hop and down-home country, while Britons bop themselves silly with tiny-tot pop, trance-dance and a little light Brit-rock.

Artistically nonjudgmental, the charts suggest that, of late, we are united only by global uber-product Shania Twain and cutesy classical Charlotte Church (the lone British artist among the Top 50 on the U.S. album chart at this writing). The evidence is clear that, currently, we don’t like your stuff much and you like ours even less.

From the British side, the problem is certainly not a lack of interest. Apart from record companies’ commercial ardor for the world’s biggest music market, in sporting terms British fans always love to see their favorites winning in America.

Well, it happens that in 2000 the old empire really is hoping to strike back--in diverse shades of artistic credibility. For instance, the Spice Girls are recording again, and Robbie Williams, who managed a gold album with his U.S. debut, will be further developing his approach to show-biz rock. But then comes the critically/commercially acknowledged best of Brit in the ‘90s.

Oasis is back with the reportedly psychedlia-inflected “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,” out Feb. 29, and a purposeful U.S. tour schedule planned (probably April, summer and again later in the year). Lineup changes and the Gallagher brothers’ fatherhood-inspired abstinence from booze and drugs may produce a less rock-romantic, more career-promoting approach. Possibly.

The more consistent and sober Radiohead’s follow-up to “OK Computer” is scheduled for June, realistically expected in the autumn. Moving spirit Thom Yorke and friends have been working on it for a year while shrewdly keeping fans in touch via https://www.radiohead.com, a Web site featuring guitarist Ed O’Brien’s musical diary and, recently, a live studio performance of a new song, “Knives Out.”

With regard to Elastica, whose 1995 debut album sold a million in the U.S., prudent pundits insert a believe-it-when-you-see-it caveat. Last year’s Christmas letter from London reported their second album ready to roll. It was. Until singer Justine Frischmann’s ever-turbulent relationship with guitarist Donna Matthews finally ruptured--on top of her split with longtime boyfriend Damon Albarn of Blur--and Elastica decided to rerecord the whole thing.

Now sounding good as a six-piece, they talk confidently of an April release and U.S. dates in May--although they are still negotiating a licensing deal for America, having drifted apart from Geffen Records during their long silence.

During Christmas week, in his first interview in more than a year, Richard Ashcroft, former leader of the Verve, told British music paper readers that “we need stars,” we’re lacking them, and he stands ready to fill the vacancy. His solo debut album should be out in April with a world tour to follow, despite the expected birth of his first child at the same time (his wife is Kate Radley, former Spiritualized organist).

Ashcroft says a “big rock record” has emerged from the session that, intriguingly, included Allman Brothers pianist Chuck Leavell among several other illustrious contributors. Ashcroft’s fondness for strings remains intact, but they are original this time, after the sample on “Bitter Sweet Symphony” saw all the Verve’s royalties for their biggest hit diverted to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein.

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However, there is no certainty that America will pay any of the above the slightest bit of attention. This letter’s tips on new Brit talent last year were pop-ettes B*Witched and Billie, Welsh bands Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia and Stereophonics, and laid-back groovers Gomez. The ‘ween-teen girls did OK, but the others had little to show for it, though Gomez and Stereophonics are perhaps the most likely to in 2000, simply because they are now touring America.

Picking a new parade of promise proved a salutary reminder that, for the moment, British music stands unsteadily on a narrow base. For example, oddly, we can put up hardly any equivalents to the fine American female singer-songwriters and R&B; stars who broke through in the 1990s (Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, etc.).

Still, caveats in place, here are five bands whose music could lift some American hearts, given the opportunity:

Death in Vegas. Led from the rear by synthesizer breakbeat boffins Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes, Death in Vegas is categorized Goth-dance but stamps a nine-piece storm onstage with a brass section and a visceral guitarist in Ian Button. They play American dates in March, and their album titles, “Dead Elvis” and the James Ellroy-referencing “The Contino Sessions,” suggest they intend to do their bit vis-a-vis transatlantic rapport--boosted, or otherwise, by an Iggy Pop vocal on the single “Aisha.”

Shack. The young hopefuls are Liverpudlian singer-songwriter and recovering junkie Michael Head, 38, and his guitarist-songwriter brother, John, 33. Devotees of Arthur Lee’s Love, in 17 years they have made five failed albums as Pale Fountains, the Strands and Shack. Suddenly their latest, “H.M.S. Fable,” got a grip on the U.K. critical fraternity. If one of their touching songs, say “Comedy,” gets lucky on radio, Shack could become 2000’s most improbable pop stars.

Asian Dub Foundation. The only British group ever to earn comparisons with the young Public Enemy, this radical-left quintet has achieved a U.K. audience split equally Indian, black and white. Officially “junglist,” these Londoners draw on Jamaican toasting, American rap and classical Indian music. Candidates in any “best live band” poll, they have a 15-year-old frontman, Deeder “Master D” Zaman. With their second album, “Community Music,” due for American release in the spring, they are negotiating for a U.S. tour as a support act to Rage Against the Machine.

Basement Jaxx. Repelling the ’99 Euro trance-dance invasion, their “punk garage” debut album, “Remedy,” is a very South London melting-pot take on house with ragga, R&B; and Latin interpolations. A DJ duo--Simon Ratcliffe, 29, and Felix Buxton, 28--they recently took on thrustful manager Mark Pickens, who helped Massive Attack go international.

Travis. Pop group orthodoxy finding its own pure voice. The Glaswegians’ second album, “The Man Who,” just sold its millionth copy in the U.K., but in America it was held back until April 2000 because they didn’t want it leaking out without a simultaneous tour. They play in L.A. at the Troubadour on Jan. 27, with more U.S. dates in the late spring. Frontman Fran Healy’s sweetly plaintive songs, such as “Driftwood” and “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?,” could touch the requisite radio nerve.

Regardless of what fate befalls the above fivesome, it must surely be time for another productive wave of transatlantic musical cross-fertilization. After all, the world got the Beatles because Lennon & McCartney loved black American R&B; the world got the Sex Pistols--in part, at least--because Johnny Rotten hated the Eagles. Let’s get the fire burning again.