Salvador Deli

As the leader of the short-lived Baltimore combo the Ravyns (known almost entirely for one song on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack), Kyf Brewer achieved minor, fleeting success in the early '80s with a chart-friendly gloss on power pop similar to the likes of the Greg Kihn Band or Billy Squier's early work. On his second solo album, 1998's groaningly titled Salvador Deli, Brewer is still working that side of the pop/rock street nearly two decades later; the opening "Nothing to Do With Being in Love" is the sort of catchily inoffensive tune that might have been a minor hit in 1981. Unfortunately, that's about as good as it gets here; most of the following 11 tracks are by-the-numbers power pop with little substance and less innovation, and the occasional touches of bagpipes, fiddle, and recorder (Brewer plays traditional Scots music on the side) are no doubt well-intentioned, but they sound jarring and out of place next to amiable boogie like "Splattered All Over the Highway." Strictly for the undiscriminating.