Viva

With the obvious exception of Kylie Minogue, dance-pop duo Bananarama are the only act from the never-ending Stock, Aitken & Waterman stable to have maintained a consistent recording career. They might be one member shorter and about 100 chart positions lower than in their '80s heyday, but since their last album to reach the Top 75, 1993's Please Yourself, they've released three studio LPs, even if nobody outside their small but loyal fan base really noticed. Their fourth album as a duo, Viva, is perhaps their most concerted effort yet to re-establish their chart credentials, having signed to Fascination Records, the pure pop label home to the likes of Girls Aloud and the Saturdays, two girl bands whose members weren't even born when Bananarama had their first hit, the 1981 Fun Boy Three collaboration "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)." But while unflattering comparisons to their younger counterparts are inevitable, Viva's 11, infectious hi-NRG tracks show that th