A popular member of Scotland’s neo-funk movement, this Aberdeen group found a friend in American college radio, where the quintet’s pressurized dance-rock was very well-received. The ten 1981-’85 singles compiled on Something to Believe In are either effectively claustrophobic and offbeat (“Shoot You Down”) or trite and obnoxious (“Rainy Day”). The CD has bonus tracks.
Cure for the Blues is a fine album of new tunes, not all of which follow the band’s basic pattern — “Part of the Deal” is light pop that resembles Aztec Camera. Iain Slater’s intense bass playing and mildly adenoidal (if pleasantly accented) vocals drive the songs, leaving the rest of the band in a subsidiary role.
Slater switched instruments with guitarist Glenn Roberts in time for the four-track Missing You Already 12-inch, nicely evening out the sound and providing more variety in the stylistic mix. While half the tunes are pretty routine, “Best of Our Love” uses piano and strong rhythm guitar to propel the beat into a soulful shake.