...But The Little Girls Understand New York NY

...But The Little Girls Understand

The Knack

Capitol Records, 1979

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/13/1998

Hard to believe it's been well over a year since The Knackgraced the pages of "The Daily Vault" - I really have to get thePierce Archives computerized (as well as organized) one of thesedays.

Following the surprise success of their debut album Get The Knack, Doug Fieger and crew quickly regrouped torecord their second album, ...but the little girls understand. But somehow, when theydug out the recipe for success they used on their first album,something went terribly wrong. Maybe it was their trying to createcopycat hits from "My Sharona," maybe it was they didn't spendenough time fine-tuning the songwriting process. Whatever the case,this album is a weak followup.

After creating such a furor with "My Sharona," The Knack returnto the dirty old man guise with "Baby Talks Dirty". Unfortunately,not only is this not as good of a song, it's also a poor copy,right down to the staccato guitar line in the body of the song.Plus, the innuendo-laden swagger the band had put forth just onealbum ago on songs like "Good Girls Don't" seems real stale.

Too bad the band didn't drop the innuendo after one song; it'sstill pretty strong on "Mr. Handleman," and has a lesser presenceon "I Want Ya". But by this time, they've slipped from the Beatleswith a hard-on to a poor cover band in their sound. No doubt aboutit, the songwriting is definitely not as strong this timearound.