POP MUSIC REVIEWS : FEMME’S ROLL WITH ROCK ‘N’ GOD SHOW

Revival-tent spell-alongs of “F-A-I-T-H” and slam dancing at the same time? Those seemingly contradictory activities made for a graphic display of the essence of Milwaukee’s Violent Femmes Friday at the Hollywood Palladium. Lead Femme Gordon Gano’s songs derive about equally from intense Christian spirituality and youthful (generally male-oriented) sexual frustration, with imagery often as crude as it is uplifting.

The Femmes’ music, too, is often crude, though freshly original-sounding. For the first few songs the trio (Gano on guitar, tall skinhead Brian Ritchie on bass and Victor De Lorenzo on drums) offered its endearingly sloppy mix of the Velvet Underground, raw rockabilly and both white and black gospel. When joined by the wonderfully-named Horns of Dilemma--supplemented on this occasion by several members of Fishbone, and Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison--the performance turned into a tour de force ranging from tight rock to Dadaist anarchy.

Somehow, despite little exposure outside college radio, the Femmes seem to have tapped into the American youth consciousness. How else would you explain a capacity crowd, ranging from pretty in pink to not-so-pretty in punk, seeming to know the words to every song in the oddball two-hour plus set?

The same enthusiasm was accorded singer-guitarist Phranc, the camp counselor to the punk generation, who opened the show with a half hour of her serious-minded whimsy.