The British trio Right Said Fred's Number One single "I'm Too Sexy," a brilliant mediocrity, has given America phrases like "I'm too sexy for my shirt" and "I'm too sexy for my cat" at a time when "Party on, Garth" otherwise might have ruled. A catchy rap on fashion models' gonzo self-regard, the single duplicates the clarity of the advertising it mocks. Yet for all its crisp simplicity, "I'm Too Sexy," like Up, Right Said Fred's debut album, resurrects older elements of disco that it's easy to forget ever existed. Like the Pet Shop Boys, Right Said Fred remembers that disco, before it maxed out on rhythmic momentum and streamlined itself into dance pop, once sounded like a happily drunk circus orchestra doing double-time renditions of "Moon River."

Right Said Fred – London bodybuilders (and brothers) Fred and Richard Fairbrass, plus guitar recruit Rob Manzoli – pretty much skips the Pet Shop Boys' suave craft and verbal indirection, though. Other Up tunes offer silly, sexy catch phrases such as "Deeply Dippy" or the second single's "Don't Talk Just Kiss," which features cult dance-music singer Jocelyn Brown. Like "I'm Too Sexy," they render the question "Is this a lame record?" irrelevant.

Elsewhere, Richard Fairbrass narrates lovey-dovey dance-floor celebrations in his booming voice and showboats on absurdly overstated romantic ballads. When the trio scatters its usually concise rhythmic and melodic moves on "Is It True About Love" – readjusting the prevailing campy attitude to waft through free-floating queries like "Is it true about crime?" – Right Said Fred almost stops sounding like itself, so it's a good thing the song also wonders, "Is it true about shoes?" (RS 627)

JIM HUNTER