Wha'ppen

Don't beat that, beat this! After a modest period of hesitance, your correspondent is pleased to be able to confirm that Wha'ppen finds the Beat striking creative gold for the second time album-wise with a new deployment of those salient elements of sense and soulfulness which made I Just Can't Stop It such a heady concoction.

But first that hesitance – which shouldn't, in the final analysis, be mistaken for a lack of enthusiasm. It's just that on initial hearings Wha'ppen doesn't come across with the same vibrant immediacy as did its illustrious predecessor. There is, for example, no track to compare with 'Best Friend' – which is no shame, given that that song was, without doubt, one of the five best singles released anywhere last year. That said, repeated playings of Wha'ppen bring the album's subtler colourings more firmly into focus, to the point, indeed, where it's likely in the future to prove the more resilient of The Beat's first two album offerings.

As The Office Boy hinted in his sneak preview last issue 'I Am Your Flag' is the most immediately arresting of Wha'ppen’s twelve tracks. A bitingly satirical rallying cry which upends the notion of nationalism as an essentially 'manly' emotion. 'I Am Your flag' is propelled urgently and forcefully by Saltin's vamping trumpet while the lyrics declaim: "So as I fly so proudly you will see/that you won't dare break up this family/see the happy children on parade/with wooden guns that mother made/And see me dancing on the breeze/that blows them away".

Such valuable propaganda against the clampdown – which in its multiplicity of guises, both personal and political, is mercilessly but intelligently attacked throughout the album – is of particular importance given The Beat's current status as one of the top pop bands on this side of the world.

And that's 'pop' in its literal sense; meaning they're a popular band given equal space in the rock press as well as in Jackie, Fab 208 et a. As a result bands like The Jam and The Beat shoulder a heavy weight of responsibility, particularly given the worthlessness of so much of the current chart competition, be it the vapid posturing of the Visage/Landscape school or the sheer, perennial inanity of the type of fodder currently epitomised by Bucks Fizz and the horrendous 'Stars On 45' travesty.

This responsibility and the many pressures incurred by the actual status they've attained are themes explored on one of Wha'ppen's best tracks, 'Drowning'. imbued with an appropriately aqueous feel and as hypnotic as the ebb and flow of the sea, 'Drowning' sees The Beat looking squarely into the mirror.

"Compromise around the corner/can you hear accountants call?/Could you refuse another dollar/?Could you stop yourself from falling".

'Drowning', of course, is about anyone tempted to sacrifice their integrity for the big buck, but as in most of The Beat's songs hope is held out at the 11th hour: "So underwater deaf and blind/under such pressures you might find/A secret right before the end/that makes you want to breathe again".

Wha'ppen proves again that The Beat are a band deserving of everyone's support and respect. That the serious nature of their lyrics might somehow seem at odds with the buoyant, effervescent mood of their music is really no dichotomy. As seen from The Beat perspective, the revolution will be danceable.

"So what's the use in fighting/war alright/but it's strictly love and unity/we deal in today/and that we will never throw away".

Say so Rankin' Roger!