Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn, Alan Vega: Cubist Blues

Lofty expectations are inevitable any time beloved musicians collaborate. Sometimes such pairings pay off, Louis Armstrong's transcendent recordings with Ella Fitzgerald being a prominent example. More often, the results resemble a baseball all-star game (or Electronic), raising the question of how such talent could provoke such boredom. Unfortunately, this collaboration involving three cult figures—Big Star's Alex Chilton, Suicide's Alan Vega and that guy who does the music for Third Rock From the Sun—falls into the latter category. While the playing is fine, there's nothing really inventive going on here and, when coupled with Vega's wearying vocal improvisations, the overall impression is that someone has unearthed a long-lost demo tape by the Doors. Essentially a recorded jam session, this should be of interest only to the already converted. It'll bore everyone else.