Exactly why is it that Johnny hates jazz? Because it takes a certain amount of talent to play it? Or could it be because jazz tends to be less profitable than the sort of lamebrained, wimpy, Brit-boy pop-soul doggerel that this utterly unoriginal trio trades in? This is a band so bland, so thoroughly unimportant, that it makes its label mate Cutting Crew sound like Booker T. and the MGs. This may also be the first group to sound as though it had been influenced by Mike and the Mechanics – a rather unhealthy precedent. In case you haven't guessed, David hates Johnny Hates Jazz. (RS 529)

DAVID WILD