Since the Spands' Collection (Vol 1) was pretty successful, EMI have rewarded us with another lot. Which is a shame, because their curiously glacial mixture of funk, soul and new-pop seems to grow more charmless the older it gets.

Particularly horrific specimens include the bland disco-schmaltz of Heaven Is a Secret and the hair-tearingly mundane Confused. They've lobbed in a couple of live tracks recorded at Sadler's Wells in 1983, but while the sound quality is pristine and singer Tony Hadley clearly yearned to move into operetta, bathos wins every time.