Consumer Guide Album

Whodini: Escape [Jive, 1984]
Like all aspiring popmeisters, producer Larry Smith and head rapper Jalil Hutchins turn out ingratiating variations on a formula. Fortunately, the formula isn't tired yet--it was a great singing synth riff that put "Haunted House of Rock" over, not the novelty concept. Even the putative follow-up "Freaks Come Out at Night," dumber lyrically than "Escape" and "Friends" and dumber musically than the irresistible "Five Minutes of Funk," is five minutes of fun. B+