the most apt reference point anyway, because Message and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back lay claim to the same territory. Both examine the urban apocalypse of the 1980s, but the distance in perspective is immense. It's the distance between Martin Luther King and Louis Farrakhan, between Marvin Gaye and the Last Poets, between inspirational exhortation and explosive reaction.

So far, no one is buying into the Club Nouveau version, which has fallen through the floor on pop and black charts alike. Small wonder, in one sense; you don't have to walk the street of any major city for long to know that Public Enemy's hip-hop rage, however wrenching and reactionary, better reflects the street-level spirit of 1988.

Still, it will be a shame if this album is overlooked. The last, three songs – "What's Going 'Round," "Only the Strong Survive" and "Better Way" – are all gorgeous, impassioned ballads. Throughout the record are moments when Valerie Watson's sweet, urgent voice cuts across King's harmony arrangements like a communiqué from a better place. This is one message worth listening to. (RS 536)

STEVE PERRY