Hand to Mouth

by General Public

Overview

To paraphrase the English Beat's second album, wha'ppen? General Public's first album, released just over a year after the English Beat's split, was a solid piece of candy-coated pop featuring several terrific songs by singer/primary songwriter Dave Wakeling. Hand to Mouth, released barely a year and a half later after a couple of personnel shakeups, is a huge stumble in comparison. Continuing All the Rage's trend towards slick pop production, but finally tipping over into bland anonymity, the album makes absolutely no musical impression even after several listens. Even worse, the songs are a uniformly dire lot, replacing the reggae and Brit-pop influences with newfound interests in American R&B and chart pop. Even the few moderately catchy songs are flawed; the gospel-influenced single "Come Again" moves along cheerfully enough until an absurdly over-emphasized "boop boop!" shout in the chorus makes the whole thing sound simply ridiculous. Unsurprisingly, General Public broke up shortly after this album's release. The belated CD issue includes several negligible B-sides and remixes. ~ Stewart Mason

Product Details

Release Date:	08/04/2023
Label:	BMG Rights Management
UPC:	4050538889369

Tracks

1. Come Again
2. Faults and All
3. Forward as One
4. Murder
5. Cheque in the Post
6. Too Much of Nothing
7. Love Without the Fun
8. In Conversation
9. Never All There
10. Cry on Your Own Shoulder

Album Credits

Performance Credits

General Public   Primary Artist
Pato Banton   Guest Artist
Gaspar Lawal   Percussion
Saxa   Saxophone
Ranking Roger   Vocals,Keyboards
Dave Wakeling   Guitar,Vocals
Justine Carpenter   Vocals
Horace Panter   Bass
Digby Cleaver   Rap
Gianni Minardi   Guitar
Mickey Billingham   Vocals,Keyboards
Sandra Lodan   Vocals
Roger Charlery   Vocals
Mario Minardi   Drums
Steve Brennan   Violin
Maro Minardi   Drums

Technical Credits

Pato Banton   Composer
Steve Colby   Mixing,Engineer
Avi Kipper   Producer
Chris Cameron   Arranger,Brass Arrangement
Gavin MacKillop   Producer
Doug Schwartz   Digital Remastering
General Public   Composer
David Leonard   Mixing,Producer
Scott Gordon   Mixing
Ranking Roger   Mixing,Composer,Producer
Dave Wakeling   Mixing,Composer,Producer
John Shaw   Engineer
Tim Baldwin   Engineer
Horace Panter   Composer
Kent Wagner   Engineer
Mickey Billingham   Composer
Roger Charlery   Composer
Martin Burgoyne   Artwork
Sidney Burton   Engineer
Kevin White   Composer
Pete Ashworth   Photography
Andy Growcott   Composer
C More Tone   Design
Stephen Panter   Composer