Nowadays of course, if a group of the type of Latin Quarter was introduced to the masses, they would be laughed out of the charts. Yet back in the mid-80s people were open-minded enough to take on board Latin Quarter's agenda, i.e. modern (for the time) pop music, lashings of reggae and folk and a non-peforming lyricist who railed articulately against right-wing societies. Their sole UK hit was 'Radio Africa' and even now its fretless bass and African percussion backing still tingles with quiet anger. Admittedly, on occasions the tinny keyboard sounds out-do the serious good intentions of the words. Thankfully 'Modern Times' has aged rather well, reaching its peak on the three-track run of 'America For Beginners', 'Eddie' and 'No Rope As Long As Time'; on each the message is articulate and clear and wrapped in what can only be described as a pleasant tune. As if to stress the point, towards the end, the spare piano arrangements and Carol Douet's vocal on 'Cora' are instantly more memorable than the more overtly 80's pop of 'Truth About John'. A useful exercise to prove that one doesn't need to beat one's breast to get the message across.