MUSIC FOR THE MASSES

Depeche Mode (album)

Ten years ago, if you'd said to somebody a single would sell enough copies to go to Number One before it had even been made available in the shops, you'd have probably been laughed at. Or, if you'd told somebody who didn't care, they might've offered to give you 20p so you could ring someone who did. Either way, it didn't look very likely. Personally, even now, after the event, I can see some parts of our music industry taking note of what Gnarls Barkley have just done and thinking to themselves, "Do you know, I think there may be something in this Internet thing, I'll have to get one and see how it works". Downloads are here to stay, like it or not. Something else that appears to be creeping in is the Surround Sound Album. Now,you can listen to albums by your favourite band* (*may not be true) in proper Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS. It's just like watching a movie at home - if the movie comprised of ten songs, a still picture of some red speakers and nothing else whatsoever, anyway. Now that's what you call minimal. However, most new albums that come with the surround option were probably recorded with that in mind anyway, but what about older songs? They were recorded when stereo was absolutely IT, if you had more than two speakers in the room in those days you were probably counting the one in the telly. Can you really take, say, a nineteen-year old album and spruce it up? Well... yes. Yes, you can. Surround sound won't work for everyone, for instance you're not likely to hear somebody boasting about a slamming 5.1 mix of Agadoo they've just got hold of, but on this album it works a treat. It may surprise you to hear that I quite like this album, not one of their very best I'll grant you, but still a very high quality piece of merchandise. Basically, it's from the period when they were about to become massive in the States, and while the darker sounding stuff settled in nicely (Never Let Me Down Again, To Have And To Hold – both majestic), they did rather carelessly allow some poppy stuff (Sacred, Nothing) to drop in to lighten the mood. So how does it all work? Well, the songs are now spread over six speakers rather than just two, so all the sounds, the instruments, the vocals, everything gets more room - some parts get their own speaker, some pan around the room, but the point is this - you hear so much more. Bits I'd never heard before suddenly sounded obvious and bits I thought I knew sounded totally different when all the component parts were scattered across the speakers. I'll tell you this, I Want You Now may have sounded a bit dirty in stereo, but in 5.1, now everything's clearer it's positively filthy! Mary Whitehouse would be shocked if she heard it now (but not as shocked as me if I found out she owned this album). Of course I'm going to recommend this album, I'd be a fool not to, but I also recommend listening to albums in surround sound too. It's not a gimmick and if it's done well, it is actually worth re-buying an album you already own. The record companies have got something right for once.

FASTER KILL PUSSYCAT

Paul Oakenfold featuring Brittany Murphy

Paul Oakenfold's a legendary name in the world of dance music, so he really doesn't need to be putting out songs this good, it's not fair on everyone else. And to invite an actress to do the warbling and discover she's actually really quite good at this singing lark, well, that's just taking the mickey. It may be essentially one five note riff repeated from start to finish, but there's so much else going on, you'd be hard pressed to spot it. As comebacks go, I'd say he's pretty much nailed it.