El DeBarge – Who’s Johnny? / Love Always [year unknown; Motown]

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Pulling two songs from El DeBarge’s debut solo album, this single opens with the one used in the movie Short Circuit, a spangly electro/soul/pop piece about a man trying to dig into his lover’s infidelity, and the tell-tale signs giving her away.  The vocals and instrumentation are well-matched, trading the lead power between the two sides while escalating the whole thing, and there are some neat twists put into the song’s arrangement.  The B-side slows down to a sultry pace, with the soul aspects given more prominence, but with the toned-down electronics, it ends up feeling kind of bland, with the touches of cheesy ‘80s sax not doing much to alleviate that impression.  Not a bad pair, but the A-side easily steals the thunder.