Nightcap World

After a three-year wait, Long Island's Scoldees finally returned in early 2003 with their sophomore effort, Nightcap World. The members of this foursome have certainly grown as songwriters and performers since their debut album, My Pathetic Life, as best evidenced by their compassionate harmonizing that suggests considerable amounts of time on the road together. At their best, co-lead vocalists Nancy Sirianni and Jack Hoffmann offer an update of the mystical Buckingham Nicks sound; indeed, few bands but Fleetwood Mac could begin an album with four tracks as strong as the first four here. Album opener "Cocoon" and the character sketch "Just Like Rita" in particular present memorable pictures and find all the bandmembers on the same page. Unfortunately, about midway through, the album dissolves into uneven, forgettable AAA rock and bar blues. A cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You," while respectable, takes no liberties whatsoever, and the last four cuts blur into a wash of snoozy mediocrity. A shame, really: Parts of Nightcap World suggest that the Scoldees have that rare combination of talent and fraternity that can elevate a band to being far more than the sum of its parts.