It's hard to blame these gifted sisters for trying something new on their second album, but the album was still a disappointment after their brilliant debut. Part of the problem is the arrangements -- much of it is either bland folk\u002Frock (Bobby's Song Louis) or strained New Wave (Nurds - like the B52s on angel dust). The failed musical accompaniment was particularly striking if you heard these same songs performed live -- which I did 2 or 3 times during this period; the songs were always superior live (and I'm not a purist who prefers the Roches with just guitar\u002Fvoice -- I love some of their later arranged work.) The other problem was that half of the songs were rather weak -- except Maggie's One Season (one of their best-ever songs) and This Feminine Position and Terre's funny\u002Fscary My Sick Mind. Their a cappella cover of Cole Porter's It's Bad for Me is also wonderful, underscoring the beauty of their collective voices, and in keeping with their own wry\u002Fslapstick humor. After this album, they returned to the more spare sound of their debut (and to Robert Fripp as producer) and recorded one of their best albums -- KEEP ON DOING. NURDS is not their worst album - SPEAK and CAN WE GO HOME NOW are much weaker - but unless you're a completist you're better off with THE ROCHES, KEEP ON DOING and A DOVE (followed by ANOTHER WORLD if you can find it).