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Teenage junkie, basketball addict, and literary shooting star (he completed the justly revered Basketball Diaries when he was 16), Carroll transforms himself into a postpunk lead singer on his debut album. And a fairly successful transition it is. Crisp, rhythmic guitar lines set the stage for his tales of New York City lowlifes, junkies, and three rather salacious sisters. It's a bleak record and a hopeful one--a peculiar and peculiarly Catholic mix; at least, that's how Carroll accounts for it in the title track ("I'm a Catholic boy, redeemed through pain, not through joy)." The formula really comes together in the unforgettable "People Who Died," as Carroll salutes a litany of ODs, suicides, and other fatalities. If this isn't one of the '80s' greatest albums, it certainly has one of the decade's greatest songs. --Percy Keegan