Matt Bianco

Matt Bianco are one of those quirky sounding 1980s bands that suddenly appeared in the charts, seemingly out of place to some degree. Poppier than the smoother edged Sade, who had just arrived on the scene, the band were formed by the late Kito Poncioni, Mark Reilly and Danny White in 1982. For added flavour for this debut they brought in the unknown Polish singer Basia Trzetrzelewska to give singles like Half A Minute and Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed a jazzy feel. Both reached the top 30 and suddenly the band, almost to their surprise as much as anyone else's, were one of the biggest new pop acts of the year.

Here the original ten track album is given a hefty boost with another 23 tracks added in a 2CD collection. 14 of these are appearing on CD for the first time; that includes some remixes that vary in quality, but also the spooky The Other Side, which was the b-side to Whose Side Are You On. The instrumental could be the theme tune to a detective show of the decade or spy drama, which would be apt considering the band's made-up name was based on them creating a character who worked for the likes of MI5 or MI6.

Back to the original album though and given the 32 years that have passed, it has a less-dated feel than expected. The pop-jazz sound would be echoed by the likes of Carmel and Swing Out Sister in subsequent years, indicating an influence on others that was not obvious at the time. There are a few too many jazzy interludes on the likes of Matt's Mood II for the standard pop fan, but you can imagine an evening at Ronnie Scott's being enhanced by a little burst of Riding With The Wind. As for singer Basia, she left after this album and went on to have a successful solo career. Matt Bianco have continued to tour in recent years, and have had some of their material given the summer remix treatment.