SPRING ALBUM ROUNDUP : CRENSHAW DISTRICT

“SONGS FROM THE FILM,” Tommy Keene. Geffen.

Keene’s rock-anchored folk-pop basically falls into the Marshall Crenshaw category, and the Baltimore-bred singer has conjured up a handful of attractive, heart-on-your-sleeve tunes on his debut LP. With its jangly guitars and spruced-up drum and bass sound, the yearning “Places That Are Gone” is one of the better entries from the current glut of small-town boy nostalgia pieces. Still, it’s doubtful that Keene will be moving out of the more talented Crenshaw’s shadow. His somewhat colorless vocals don’t quite caress the lyrics with the kind of warmth and fluidity a singer of this genre needs, and half of the songs seem like failed attempts to balance commercialism with artistry.