by Johnny Loftus
This set produced for the U.K. and Irish markets gathers up and spits out the more danceable highlights of Five's career. Throughout selections like &When the Lights Go Out,& &Let's Dance,& &Slam Dunk (Da Funk),& and &If Ya Getting Down,& exhortations to &get funky,& &rock that body,& and &get up& -- or whatever -- are yelled constantly over curiously unfunky arrangements. The catch phrases are uttered with such frequency one begins to wonder if the Five fellas are trying to convince themselves that their plastic appropriation of the lad band formula is, in fact, funky. News flash -- not quite. Five can only muster one or two moments of charisma. Couple the combo's nonidentity with the glittery yet recycled blandness of their music, and all you have left are flimsy beats and empty phrases like &Wiggy wiggy I'm gettin' jiggy.& Completist fans may be interested in Let's Dance, but its material is in no way exclusive, having been culled from studio albums and maxi singles.