Where is the Love, has been the question on the minds of Hole fans the world over. Almost five years ago, they released Live Through This a blistering assault of a record which proved that Courtney Love was far more than the slovenly girlfriend of the late Kurt Cobain. Easily among the best albums of the decade, Live Through This is ferocious, fragile, pretty, mean, touching and raw all at once--a scorching manifesto that isn't so much feminist as it is purely female.

Since then Love has been preoccupied first with cultivating her image as the preeminent Diva or grunge, then developing an acting career, (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination), and more recently reinventing herself as a Hollywood glamour girl. Until I saw the cover photo on her long-awaited new release Celebrity Skin, I was afraid we'd lost the Courtney we love. But there she was on the cover exuding all the menace and beauty that intrigued us from the start--the shameless, naughty little girl next door, who took you in her treehouse and taught you how to play doctor.

The cover photo notwithstanding, it pains me to report that Celebrity Skin is barely a keeper--I wouldn't throw it back, but it's not the catch you'd hold up proudly and have your picture taken with. Many of the songs are co-written by the Great (smashing) Pumpkin, Billy Corgan, and to his credit, his fingerprints are barely visible. (With the exception of the title track which begins with a power chord progression that is pure Pumpkins).

Much like the Pumpkins latest release Adore, Celebrity Skin is pretty watered-down stuff. The songs start off with a lot of promise, but don't really go anywhere--there's no payoff. As the CD drones along youÕll find yourself liking it okay, but catch yourself thinking, "yea, yea, yea . . . Next." Love's lyrics are the same sort of "Dread and Bitter" that made Live Through This so intense; but the songs on Skin stay within such an innocuous Pop formula, that her trademark verbal bile seems far less genuine. None of the songs really stand out. They run together so forgettably that you hardly notice when one song ends and another begins. And very often I found myself thinking, "what in GodÕs name is she whining about now?"

Though HoleÕs musical influence can be seen in a number of subsequent bands, Shirley Manson of Garbage has more than filled HoleÕs void, and Shirley, in my opinion, has become the reigning queen of the sweeter side of darkness. Both of GarbageÕs albums are a better investment than ÒCelebrity Skin.Ó ThatÕs the way it is, I just canÕt Holeheartedly recommend it. But if youÕre a Courtney lover, go for it--youÕll probably like it. I do. Even half-assed Hole, is better than no Hole at all.