UNFIT FOR A KING

“BITTER SWEET,” King. Epic. This quartet is one of the more recent and least interesting entries to the sputtering English dance-fashion movement, which was pioneered in the early ‘80s by such bands as Culture Club and ABC. On its second album, King tries mightily to keep the disco burning with some insistent dance rhythms. But the upbeat tunes never really explode into a gripping funk frenzy. Instead, these mundane exercises in rock ‘n’ soul sound like sub-standard Spandau Ballet, and they fizzle like cheap fireworks. Half-baked melodies and anemic singing by leader Paul King are par for the course.