The Judds: Give A Little Love (RCA)

GIVEN THE choice between listening to a country LP — any country LP — or one by some exceeding obscure indie outfit who are distinguished by the fact that they can neither sing nor play to any reasonable degree, I, unlike some of my MM colleagues, would opt for the downhome brew most every time. After 15 tracks of the Judds and their Badoit-clear, butterfly-gentle vocals, though, it's almost imperative that one follows them up with a weighty dose of some godawful "alternative" band just to redress the balance a bit.