BACKFIRE AT THE DISCO

Wombats

Many years ago, Cliff Richard's music was bought by all sorts of people instead of the hardcore support he has these days, and because Cliff was all over the radio like a dropped trifle, if he wanted to act like the coolest kid on the planet, he was perfectly entitled to do so. In 1981, Cliff's idea of "cool" involved making a video that showed him roller-skating with his friends around the fledgling Milton Keynes, namely the World's Biggest Greenhouse (now known as thecentre:mk), a couple of underpasses and one of the few office blocks that existed at the time, and while he was doing this he was singing a song about how great he thought personal cassette players were or something. Rock and roll, man. With all that going for it, it's no wonder the song was a top chart smash, and I bet John Lewis were chuffed to bits with the free advertising they were getting. But hold on just a second, isn't this meant to be a review of the new Wombats single? Well, it is, but the reason I bring up Sir Cliff's early-eighties achievements is that the Wombats have paid tribute to his Wired For Sound video by recreating it, even adding mid-eighties Top Of The Pops-style on-screen graphics into the bargain. Marvellous. Of course, all this is meaningless if you don't care about the video, so it's a good job the song's up to their usual standard. Jangly guitars, three minute running time, one solitary rude word, brisk pace throughout, let's be honest, you should know what to expect from this lot by now and this is more of the same. That's no bad thing, mind you.

4 MINUTES

Madonna and Justin

Yeah, so it's taken a few weeks to get round to reviewing this, by which time you already know what it sounds like, therefore rendering any descriptions I may give irrelevant. Job's a good 'un, innit? If I'm honest with you, I much prefer Disco Madonna to R&B Madonna, compared to Hung Up and Jump this sounds a little bit laboured. And something else I can't understand is the two of them singing "We've only got four minutes to save the world". For one thing, what sort of a catastrophe would have to happen to leave Madonna (49) and Justin Timberlake (formerly of N'Sync) with the immense responsibility of ensuring the survival of the planet? And for another, why, if they know how long they've got, are they merely singing about what they need to do instead of just doing it? See, that's just the sort of slapdash attitude that gets people killed.

DON'T GIVE ME YOUR LIFE '08

Shanie

In which the lead singer from the ancient Alex Party number dusts down the original, gives it a bit of spit and polish and re-issues it under her own name. And that's pretty much it. It's serviceable enough, but the remix is so close to the original I'm wondering why they didn't just go with that.

THE MISBEGOTTEN

Charlatans

There aren't many bands around who could put out a song that sounds like a shotgun wedding between New Order and Franz Ferdinand and get away with it, and a few years ago I certainly wouldn't have considered the Charlatans as being one of the few bands capable of such an achievement. Funny old world, isn't it? In fact, not only have they got away with it, they've managed to do it with the best single since Love Is The Key and... well... actually, there's no getting around it, this is actually the best thing I've ever heard from the Charlatans. It's got a nice quiet start, but gradually the tune kicks in and when it does that's it, there's no messing about, Tim Burgess and friends go disco (sort of) for four minutes and sound as though they're having a great time doing so. What's more, for a band who had their first hit single eighteen years ago, you'd never know it from hearing this song. If anything, it sounds more up-to-date than any of the singles listed above it. This really is fantastic stuff.