POP MUSIC REVIEW : An Earnest Plan B

Berlin calling?

The urgent cadences, the ringing guitars, the gruff, impassioned voice, the denunciations of racism and the consumer society--at times during the headliner’s show at Club Lingerie on Thursday you could have sworn it was the Clash, reunited to save the world from artifice and complacency.

In fact, it was Plan B, a Berlin-based quartet with a lot more earnestness than originality. They played it well enough, but without a connection to a vital community it seemed like an exercise in futility.

When not under the Clash spell, Plan B offered generic, briskly riffed rock that never built up steam. Struggling through some technical problems with the rhythm guitar, and later having to repeat the opening of “Beam Me Up, Scotty!” because the guitar was out of tune, the band seemed eagerly hapless, like the early stage of a post-punk Spinal Tap.

There was also a Clash component to opening act, the Rebel Pebbles: a version of “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” At least it was better than their version of the Beatles’ “Baby You’re a Rich Man.”

If there’s a Bangles void aching to be filled, the female foursome might be the group for the job. They’re not so harmony-oriented, but they mine a similar ‘60s folk-rock and garage-rock vein.

There’s not a hint of anything genuine about singer Rachal Murray, but she’s professional and marketable. New-wave mogul Miles Copeland has signed them to I.R.S. Records, and the first time he sponsored an L.A. girl band we got the Go-Go’s. But more seasoning on the club circuit wouldn’t hurt the Pebbles-the sound could be a lot stronger and tighter.