SURE FEELS GOOD

Ultrabeat vs Darren Styles

Well, that's handy, because it doesn't sound very good at all. It's yet another in the seemingly never-ending line of generic dance tracks, where absolutely no expense has been spent on making the song as good as it can possibly be. It's very simple, whack it up to around 120bpm, chuck in some irritating bleepy noises that went out of fashion when Scooter went down the dumper and get some poor unfortunate singer in to try and make herself heard, even though about 75% of her total contribution is going to be the name of the song repeated over and over again. If that's lazy, the same can be said for the video too, in fact, the people behind the video might've known the song was a dud, so in what looks like a desperate attempt to get it requested on Smash Hits and The Box, they've filled the screen with people dancing around a poorly disguised set whilst not wearing very much. Yes, the people are indeed female, as if you hadn't already guessed. There's some really good music around and James Blunt, so it's little short of infuriating to get served this plate of uninspired slop. In fact, come to think of it, even James Blunt's new single's streets ahead of this. Sometimes I feel as though there's something very wrong with the world when I have to say that, but there you go.

LET'S DANCE

Hi-Tack

Of course, if you're worried your own songs might be rubbish, you could always re-jig someone else's. It's worked a treat for Eric Prydz, and it seems to be working nicely for Hi-Tack and all. Surprisingly enough, they've decided against updating Chris Rea's Number 12 smash from 1987 – wonder why. No, instead they've decided to take on some bloke called David… Bowie or something, I dunno, he'll never get anywhere with a daft name like that. Apparently he had a hit with a song called Let's Dance back in the early eighties, but surely if it was that good it'd be on every 1980s compilation going, wouldn't it? Sarcasm aside, let's be honest, if you're going to cover any Bowie song released after Ashes To Ashes, the chances are very high that it'd be Let's Dance, mainly because it is such a good song and partly because... well, can you name any others? Rather handily, Hi-Tack have worked this out too, and they've kept the song almost completely intact. Yeah, they've beefed it up a bit and given it go-faster stripes and stuff, but the tune's still there and so are the vast majority of the vocals. In fact, there's so much Bowie on this song that if you ask me this probably should've been listed as a David Bowie remix and not a new single from Hi-Tack. Doesn't matter in the end though, the song's good and that's what really counts.

THE PRETENDER

Foo Fighters

There's a general rule that tends to work for me regarding the Foo Fighters. The worse the video, the better the song. There are exceptions, but generally it holds true. The good news here then, is that the video's not that great, which means the song is. It starts off a little bit like U2 and Green Day's The Saints Are Coming in that it's very quiet and unexciting for the first thirty seconds or so, which is there to lull you into a false sense of security so when the song does explode into life you very nearly don't see it coming. And by heck, does it explode or what? Dave Grohl spends half the song in full-on Screaming-Until-His-Lungs-Burst mode, bless him, and the rest of the band are only too happy to try and make their instruments scream too. The guitars get thrashed to within an inch of their lives and the drumkit takes the sort of beating you'd normally only see if Brazil were playing Cowdenbeath in a friendly at the Maracana. Smashing stuff.