When the first {$UNKLE} full-length dropped in 1998, some {\electronica} fans were hoping that the supergroup featuring {@Mo' Wax} founder {$James Lavelle} and production wunderkind {$DJ Shadow} would become to {\electronic} music what {$Radiohead} had become to {\rock}: an act with commercial clout, artistic importance, and the rapt attention of music critics everywhere. {^Psyence Fiction} instead engaged only a small coterie of curious listeners interested in the concept of epic {\trip-hop} -- or the parade of star collaborations. {$UNKLE} full-length number two, {^Never, Never, Land}, finds {$James Lavelle} with a new conspirator, {\singer/songwriter} {$Richard File}, a talented writer whose blasted yet sweet vocals unfortunately recall {$Dirty Vegas} as much as {$Thom Yorke}. {$Lavelle}'s vision for music is still in wide focus, replete with sweeping strings, driving breakbeat passages, and tender balladry (from {$File}) as well as raging, angsty {\metal} (from guest vocalist {$Josh Homme} of {$Queens of the Stone Age}). {$Massive Attack}'s {$3D} gets another chance to excoriate {%Blair} and {%Bush} on {&"Invasion,"} while {$Ian Brown} shambles through another guest appearance on {&"Reign."} {$Lavelle}'s interests and themes haven't changed drastically from {^Psyence Fiction}, and with fewer star guests (anonymous contributions from {$Jarvis Cocker}, {$Brian Eno}, and {$Graham Gouldman} notwithstanding), {^Never, Never, Land} is a work of intense drama but little importance. [The U.S. release, which followed a year after the British, included two bonus-track remixes. The Japanese version, released in July 2004, featured one bonus track.] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide