Consumer Guide Album

The Knack: . . . But the Little Girls Understand [Capitol, 1980]
When last seen they were onstage at Carnegie Hall, reading that stanza about writers and critics from "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and despite the title this is obviously their stab at artistic respectability, less The Knack's Second Album than Commander Chapman's Nasty Mouths Club Band. Or maybe they understand what critics don't: that little girls think it's cute and sexy to write songs about Mexican guys pimping their wives to Jewish guys. What critics understand and they don't--or maybe they're just so close to satori that they accept their limitations--is that whatever the subject, little girls prefer catchy, punchy second-hand songs to varied, indecisive thirdhand ones. In fact, so do critics. C-