THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996             TAG: 9601190151
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   59 lines

NORFOLK TRIO COMBINE TAKES ITS PLACE IN ``HISTORY OF ROCK''

``YOU ALWAYS knew you were different,'' croons Combine's Brian Pafumi three songs into the band's second nationally released album, ``The History of American Rock and Roll.'' ``Don't let it stop you from paying the rent.''

In that tune, ``Big Disappointment,'' Pafumi seems to be addressing a stereotypical slacker. But he could also be urging on the kind of misfit who, like himself and his band mates, sees a way to channel frustration, rage and bent humor into powerful rock 'n' roll.

Such fusion is both the root and the theme of ``History,'' whose lofty title is charged with a lot more irony than the similar one of Michael Jackson's recent ``HIStory . . . Book I.'' Despite a contract with major independent label Caroline Records - which releases Combine's ``History'' on Tuesday - and a fistful of good press, the Norfolk trio has many fewer illusions about its place in the world.

Singer/guitarist Pafumi, bassist Darryl Lewis and drummer John Corbett recognize how thin the line can be between death and glory. Or is that tragedy and farce? On one song, Pafumi celebrates ``the world's coolest rock 'n' roll band,'' who literally never got anywhere because ``nobody could fix the van.''

Combine, of course, has toted up thousands of gigging miles since last year's ``Norfolk, VA'' hit stores. Even before their frequent 1995 touring, the group was improving on that record's angular force; ``History'' has been in the can for the better part of 12 months.

On the album, Combine's punk rock is more charged than ever, while its knowledge of '70s-style arena dynamics adds even more kick to tracks like ``Superfriendlier,'' which pays a certain homage to early Rush, or maybe the Cheap Trick stuff Pafumi has cited as a road favorite. The rapidly shifting tempos that have long been a hallmark of Combine's sound are negotiated more intelligently than ever.

The band's growing ambitions also peek through several cuts. There's a piano here, a buzzing cello there, and full-blown string arrangements in a couple of spots. Similarly, Pafumi's lyrics have more to express than just rue and delight in the pleasures this music unleashes in the world and himself, although those are a lot in themselves.

He's not the first to question what the end result of all this might be, nor to suggest that fun and games might not trump disaster. Whether the next stop is a bigger, brighter one has yet to be seen, but ``The History of American Rock and Roll'' makes the best case to date that Combine deserve a hearing outside the clubs of Hampton Roads. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

GARY KNAPP

From left: Combine members Brain Pafumi, X. Darryl Lewis and Juan

T.

[For a copy of the INFOLINE box, see microfilm.]

by CNB