Also this issue: Under the Radar Jim Putnam is not an undercover Brother. -Paul Burress Summer Monster The package tour -- something wicked this way comes. -Patrick Rapa Coming Up Rosey The rising pop star wants you to get Dirty. -Nicole Pensiero Beat Box -Ain� Ardron-Doley The Gig -Nate Chinen

July 12-18, 2002

musicpicks

Neil Finn

Of late, Neil Finn has been keeping some surprising company. One All (Nettwerk), the re-mixed, re-sequenced domestic version of Finn's overseas One Nil, features contributions from relatives, one member of Midnight Oil, L.A. session vets, girl-geek Lisa Germano and onetime Prince backers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Last year, he played a string of New Zealand college dates where students were invited to audition to be his backing band for the night. And that's not mentioning the cast of thousands -- Eddie Vedder, Johnny Marr, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien -- Finn roped in for the live 7 Worlds Collide. The music? Oh, the same reliably eclectic pop, sometimes smooth ("Lullaby Requiem"), sometimes spiky ("Hole in the Ice") and always striving for more than mere prettiness. One All flirts with the jagged pretense that dogged Crowded House's lesser songs (Temple of Low Men, I'm looking at you), but Finn's gift for clear-as-a-bell melody wins out in the end. Opener Ed Harcourt fights his own battles with over-orchestration, but he's pared his touring ensemble down to an unusual trio, which could make for a thrilling evening, all told.

Wed., July 17, 8 p.m., $18.50, with Ed Harcourt, the TLA, 334 South St., 215-336-2000.

—Sam Adams