C IS FOR COOKIE

Cookie Monster and the Girls

I have to say it. This review has been brought to you by the letter C and the number 12. Sorry. I’ll warn you now, this is currently only available as a twelve-inch, so if you don’t have a record player... well... (looks for something worthwhile to say)... that’s not my fault... (and fails dismally). Do you know, it’s almost as if somebody heard Elton John’s Are You Ready For Love and thought “Blimey, there’s something in this disco stuff, I wonder if there’s anything we can put out, you know, something like a long-lost classic”, at which point they went out and found themselves a suitable disco tune “sung”, if that’s the word, by Cookie Monster off of Sesame Street. Well, you’ve certainly got to award full marks for originality if nothing else. To be honest, if you didn’t know what this was you’d never guess anything was out of the ordinary until the… erm… singer screamed “Cookie!” about 45 seconds in. Unlike most kids songs today, the tune itself has a grown-up feel to it (think about Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh or anything by the Fast Food Rockers – as soon as they start you know for a fact that you’re probably many years older than the song’s target audience, it’s just the way they sound). The vocals aside, this is a proper disco tune and very funky it is too, you even get the army of backing singers crooning “C is for cookie” – just imagine how much they were paid for that. In case you’re wondering what our blue furry friend is going on about, would you believe he spends most of the song discussing the merits of cookies and which flavours he’s fond of? I know, I couldn’t wrap my head round that either, it’s so out of character. Peanut butter cookies, vanilla cookies, asparagus cookies, fortune cookies, even disco cookies (best not to ask), apparently he loves them all. The really daft thing about all this is that it’s surprisingly good. Obviously, you have the novelty value of a Muppet going disco (and to be fair, he’s not exactly what you’d call a first choice Muppet, but then perhaps Kermit was busy), but even after a couple of listens, once the novelty fades, the tune still holds up. Songwriters aiming their wares at young small people would do well to learn from songs like this. And the treats don’t end there either. On the B-side you get a song called Pinball Number Count by the Pointer Sisters. Doesn’t sound much, but it’s actually that song from Sesame Street, the one that goes “one two three four, five, six seven eight nine, ten, eleven twelve”. Yeah, you know it now, don’t you? There’s been a lot of care and attention put into this release (you only have to look at the cover to see that – even the barcode’s had a bite taken out of it) and, while it’s never going to be a big hit, it’s nice to see it in the shops. Now, if the Swedish Chef made a record, that really would be something to behold.

MAPS

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This band is really starting to grow on me. This single’s not like Date With The Night or Pin, this one’s more relaxed. Ish. It’s one of those slow songs that could go from “I am your friend” to “We’ll settle this outside sonny” at the drop of a hat - it’s that not-quite-sure-which-way-it’s-going-to-go feeling about the song that makes it work, to be honest. The drummer may be going at half pace, but there’s always that feeling that he may suddenly get bored with this song and suddenly go into fifth gear to wrap things up quickly. The guitarist also lets off a little bit of steam every now and then and you’re never quite sure if he’s going to let fly without warning either. It’s only the singer who manages to stay calm throughout the proceedings. Personally, I like this one.