Singles

LAPTOP: I'm So Happy You Failed (Island) - The first thing that strikes you about this bitter outburst is how much it sounds like David Bowie . . . then Heaven 17. Then Alice Cooper. Then Thomas Dolby. A rock guitar/keyboard combination backed by a school choir is powerful enough to stir some emotion. But, as the Barenaked Ladies said as they seemed to rip off They Might Be Giants, "It's all been done". Getting a record contract must be easy these days. I might have a go myself. (5/10) IM

LLAMA FARMERS: Yellow (Beggars Banquet) - Surprisingly downbeat for this time of year, this may have been more appropriately released in the depths of winter. A catchy, aching guitar riff masks a raking bassline and shimmering keyboards but does little to disguise annoyingly American vocals. A melancholy offering which won't exactly cheer you up. (6/10) IM MISHKA: Lonely (Creation) - Maxi Priest is back. And he's got a bigger beard. That's about all you can say for this offering, which adds nothing to the past and present reggae market. Harmless, harmonic stuff from a man with an ever-growing fan club that includes Finley Quaye. But there's a fine line between relaxing and boring. (5/10) IM

Albums

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Now That's What I Call Music 43 (Virgin/EMI) - It doesn't seem so long since I taped Now 8 off some hapless school chum who'd been foolish enough to cough up his pocket-money. Despite being the best-branded pop compilations, the quality of these albums can vary immensely. This latest offering is dominated by the kind of mindless pop drivel which anyone with an ounce of taste despises. Your average gerbil would not be mentally taxed if asked to write songs like Viva La Radio by Lolly, Doo Dah by Cartoons or Boom Boom Boom Boom by The Vengaboys. But what's this? The second CD seems to have been compiled by someone with a brain - the acts include Supergrass, Texas (pictured), Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Gomez and James. And there's the excellent New Radicals single, along with the ever-present monologue of Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen). Pop-crazed kids on one hand and discerning music fans on the other are likely to discard one of these two discs. (5/10) PB

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.