You might have to do some serious searching to find the Single of the Month this time. It's called "Closer To The Heart," by an Irish group, Clannad, who used to sing principally in Gaelic and are still filed under Folk in those enterprising record stores that import their LPs. But �Closer To The Heart� is pure pop, with only an occasional nod to traditional folk in a harmony passage here or there. The tune is a pure delight, the kind you assimilate the first time you hear it; Maire Brennan�s vocals are crystalline, and the blistering guitar solos wouldn�t be out of place on a hard rock (or, these days, a hard funk) record. You�ll probably have to seek out the album (Macalla) to find the song, as I don�t know anyone who�s importing the single (need one myself in fact). So start scouring those folk bins.

By the way, for the thousands of completists who want to keep their Singles of the Month collections complete, the SOM in the Great Lost 45 Revelations column that became outdated during CREEM�s hiatus was �Black Kisses (Never Make You Blue)� by Holland�s Curtie & The Boombox. They deftly combined at least three great Sister Sledge songs (�Lost In Music,� �He�s The Greatest Dancer,� and, most obviously, �We Are Family�), added a screaming guitar solo from Def Leppard�s Steve Clark, and made a valiant stab at snaring an American hit last fall. I�m impressed by how uncannily European acts are adapting American black music styles—another good example is �Say I�m Your No. 1� by the lamely-named Princess, who doesn�t sound anything like Prince but did knock off an adept recreation of the cushiony ethereal SOS Band sound.