light-weight; it's bottomless funk, which seems odd for a record that devotes a whole song to the joys of a bass line ("A Ray of Sunshine"). Probably the biggest problem with Wham! is that the group lacks a really distinctive vocalist. George Michael's earnest whine is as synthetic and overly familiar as the cheap keyboards so prevalent nowadays. The only cut that really stands up is "Nothing Looks the Same in the Light," a lush, melodious, almost Bee Geeslike number, on which Michael (who writes most of the group's material with Andy Ridgely) plays all the instruments. Turn up Wham! when they come on the car radio, but remember: they won't sound the same anywhere else. (RS 404)

DON SHEWEY