THUNDERBIRDS

Busted

Ah, Busted. Who'd have thought they'd end up doing a theme tune for a kids' movie, albeit a kids of all ages movie? You can all put your hands down now. To be fair, the orchestra really adds something to this song and I don't just mean a tune. The presence of loads of extra musicians drafted in to polish up an otherwise fairly standard Busted outing has given them a finished product of higher quality than they've ever had before. The song sounds fuller and more interesting and richer and I can't believe I'm writing this about a Busted song. However, when you consider how low the quality threshold has been for previous singles (Sleeping With The Light On and Crashed The Wedding were particularly grim) all this has done is raise the single to "marginally above average". What holds it back are the lyrics, they're... well... they're a bit naff. Try this for a sample line - "It always looks so cool when spaceships come out of the pool". Quite. There's more where that came from too. There is a reference to the past (no strings holding them down this time round), but mainly it's Thunderbirds dumbed down for the 21st Century, I suppose. None of the characters are named, there's no mention of the other Thunderbirds that don't happen to reside underneath a swimming pool and there's nothing to say how the Tracy family manage to save the world on such a regular basis - all you get is "There's these blokes, right, and when the world's in danger they go out and save it and, er, that's it." As a Busted song it's great, as a pop song it's okay, but I won't kid you here. If you want to hear a proper Thunderbirds song, go and listen to Fuzzbox's International Rescue because that blows this right out of the water.

SATELLITE OF LOVE '04

Lou Reed

Now that virtually any song can be either remixed or re-recorded to appeal to the clubs and the people that frequent such establishments, it's starting to look like virtually any song is being retouched these days. Mind you, there are still some songs that I would consider untouchable, those that should never need remixing or remaking. I'd class songs like Golden Brown and Once In A Lifetime in that category myself, but you probably wouldn't, you've got your own choices and that's fair enough. You know what I mean though, that's the important thing. The reason I mention all this is because Lou Reed is responsible for something that nobody would dare remix (not even Jason Nevins) or re-record (although I would love to see someone like McFly or Westlife try), namely Metal Machine Music. Have a listen, you'll see what I mean. That may be why somebody's had a go at Satellite Of Love instead, it's a lot easier and the poor mug who has to do the job won't end up with so many headaches. It's just a shame that for the most part this remix sounds like the final part of the original repeated over and over and with new beats added. It's a good idea for a minute or two, but doesn't quite stretch to four, even if you account for the interlude in the middle. Still, it's a lot better than most remakes I've heard lately (LMC vs U2, anyone?), even though the year has been bolted onto the end of the song title, which is always a bad sign. Try and name one good song that's had the year number added to the end, you'll see what I mean.

GUILTY

The Rasmus

In The Shadows, great song. Heard it loads of times, still not sick of it. Sadly, this is not In The Shadows. Where that had originality and a unique sound to it, this has neither and sounds a lot like those identikit rock songs that European bands enjoyed throwing across the English Channel at us back in the eighties and nineties. Shame really, still, everyone has an off day.