Just Enough Education to Perform

Just Enough Education to Perform, the third album from this U.K. favorite, kicks off with the guitar throttle wide open (”Vegas Two Times”). The next number, though (”Lying in the Sun”), slips into a pining sort of neutral, suggesting that raspy Welshman Kelly Jones has been listening to a little Rufus Wainwright. Hopefully it’s those fickle British rock critics taking the brunt of ”Mr. Writer,” but if Jones means to taunt us, too, he’s safeguarded himself with some of his most writerly songs to date.