POP MUSIC REVIEW : GENERAL PUBLIC IN COMMERCIAL VEIN

If you measured the effectiveness of a concert by the amount of dancing it generated, then General Public’s show at the Universal Amphitheatre on Thursday would have rated a solid 10. By the time the six-piece group launched into its first hit, “Tenderness,” the entire audience appeared to be up on its feet.

But danceability alone does not a great band make. General Public’s leaders, David Wakeling and Ranking Roger, were members of the English Beat, one of the leading groups of Britain’s short-lived, interracial “Two-Tone” ska movement, which found a huge pocket of popularity in Los Angeles and spawned local groups like the Untouchables.

Though the Public still injected some ska (a fast, bouncy forerunner of reggae) into songs like “Are You Leading Me On,” the group’s homogenized blend of Jamaican-inspired dance rhythms and English Mod melodies is increasingly veering toward straight-out commercial pop. The earlier Beat and General Public social concerns were also evident in the concert, but they seem to be giving way to silly love songs.

While one can’t think of a nicer man to sing these songs than the pleasantly hollow-toned Wakeling, you expect more emotional momentum from a group like this. After a while, General Public’s energetic pursuits became too familiar, its intensity seemed rote, its small quirks (like the presence in the band of aged Jamaican sax-man Saxa) steamrollered by its more banal pop instincts.