After an absence of three years, the Australian band the Divinyls is back with a new album, Temperamental (Chrysalis * * * ). The group's songs are workmanlike, not spectacular, but the singing of Christina Amphlett is a wonder - strong, funny, passionate and self-deprecating. And Mike Chapman, the producer, has found a way to set off Amphlett's vocals without relegating the rest of the band to the status of mere backup musicians.
Glass Eye Bent by Nature (Bar None * * * ): This fine Austin band has, with its new third album, finally found a way to fully convey its humor and power on record. The quartet's material most frequently consists of alluring melodies that fracture and disintegrate before your very ears, only to be reassembled by the conclusion of the song. And the lyrics sung by Kathy McCarty and Brian Beattie avoid trite commonplaces to become eerily allusive, surrealistically amusing.
