Consumer Guide Album

The English Beat: What Is Beat? [I.R.S., 1983]
With its remixes, live versions, and non-LP U.K. singles, this Jamaican farewell portends the consumer confusion of compilations to come. Strictly speaking, eight of its thirteen offerings are new to LP, but in general I prefer the original cuts (and sequencing), and I can't understand why the hot disco remix of "Twist and Crawl" was left out of the grab bag. Collectors might as well go for the cassette, which though it's slightly inferior audiowise does exploit the biz's sanest tactic to the noble campaign to scourge home taping by adding four tracks, two live and two U.K.-only, including the secret classic "Wrong Side of the Bed." B+