Dice

  • Dice
  • Broken Rules (Fr. CBS) 1980 
  • The Dice (Fr. CBS) 1982 

This French quartet comes off insouciant, snotty and clever on Broken Rules. Maybe a touch too careful, enough to undercut the urgency that would have made more than a few of the songs memorable. By The Dice, the band consisted of the two prime movers (keyboardist Pascal Stive and singer J.M. Devlin) plus three backing vocalists (their soundman, manager and lyricist) and a few session players. While Elaine Rowen may have added to the band’s image, her lyrics rework every old rock chestnut in the book; the cleaned-up music, while shiny and “new,” is nothing more than a polished lemon without an engine.

[Jim Green]