Don Was produced both of this English dance-music trio’s LPs, giving it a full-blown wash of horns, synthesized strings and other high-tech keys to commercial success. On Into the Hot, brothers Shaun and Michael Ward (with assistance from Monsieur Was and guests) churn out their music with ease and style, allowing Carroll Thompson’s swell, big voice to dominate the record.
Thompson and Shaun Ward subsequently bailed out (resurfacing a few years later in a group called Everyday People) leaving hornman Michael Ward to draft singer Desy Campbell and bassist/drum programmer/co-writer Robert E. Clarke and put together a new all-male Floy Joy. The second LP is more appealing for its material (the title track — which received fine treatment in a 1987 cover by Alison Moyet — is excellent) than its occasionally sterile Was-oriented dance-soul-funk performances.