by Chris Dafoe, Globe and Mail, November 24, 1988
TPOH had a minor hit last year with I'm an Adult Now, a perfect pop song that slyly refuted the eternal adolescent ethos of pop music. Love Junk lives up to the potential demonstrated by that song, which has been re-recorded and included on this Todd Rundgren-produced album. Singer/songwriter Moe Berg's skeptical reflections on traditional pop concerns - jealousy, lust, infidelity and, as one song puts it, Consciousness Raising as a Social Tool - are set to spare, punchy guitar riffs and the teasing, oblique harmony vocals of Kris Abbott and Leslie Stanwyck, an approach that puts him both inside and outside the pop camp. And while Berg's attempts to play the sensitive guy - as he does in the tabloid tragedy of Walking in the Woods - lack the musical edge and lyrical wit of harder-edged material such as Hard to Laugh and Looking For Girls, Love Junk stands out as an excellent collection of smart, unpretentious pop.
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