Singles bar

Rip It Up, Issue 81, 1 April 1984, Page 26

S ingles bar

General Public (Virgin) 12" Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger were the songwriting team that brought you the Beat. General Public is their new (dis)guise. In reality, there is little difference between the old and new. The reggae feel is still there, though the instrumentation differs. A funkier bass line, a lot more keyboards, some nice grinding guitar from special guest Mick Jones. All in all, very pleasant, but for some reason I expected more. Scritti Politti

Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (Virgin) 12" Those people (yes, all five of you) who bought the Scritti Politti album Songs to Remember will in fact probably remember this song. Reworked, revamped, funked up, it floats along, bopping and dipping in key stanzas. I don't understand why they didn't do it like this in the first place. The The

This Is the Day (Epic) Why I'm reviewing this one, I don't know. If you aren't already

aware of it you obviously have no interest in modern music. Rapturous, ravishing ... and a million other words couldn't describe it. Believing is in the hearing. Shannon

Let the Music Play (Polygram) One of the great disco stomps of the last six months. Shannon delivers this song as if she'll never be allowed to sing again. Instant chorus, tremendous beat, an intense wall of sound that hurls you across the dancefloor then dumps you, exhausted, in a shattered heap. Might even be a hit. Mark Phillips