REVIEW: Various Artists, Y2K Beat The Clock (Columbia)
- Andrew Duncan
With the end of another millennium approaching and the prospect of facing the year 2000, the music industry, along with all the other entertainment media, are doing something never before attempted -- cashing in on the historical event by releasing music that had significant impact throughout the 1900s. Record companies, including Rhino, are recollecting on soul, hip-hop and the big '80s, while National Public Radio is collecting classical movements throughout the century. Of course, there are many other compilations sitting in the record stores.
With the Y2K paranoia also lurking in a dark corner, Columbia is using the potential computer Armageddon to market the music-compilation craze. Instead of using musical artists to demonstrate a strong-historical statement, Columbia is creating a product to be used as a party mix to bring in the new millennium.
Who cares, Columbia says, about the Y2K bug that will supposedly wipe out anything that relies on computers if not properly fixed before the clock turns to January 1, 2000? Just dance those worries right out the door.
Sounds great in theory, but what exactly is there to dance to? Many great songs that have been featured on many other electronica compilations in the market, along with some more obscure pieces that can stay in the music vaults.
Sure Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank" and his remix of Wildchild's "Renegade Master" are excellent choices, while Prodigy's "Out of Space" is a wonderful addition instead of using "Firestarter" for the 50th time, but the songs that are used are just too familiar to the world of electronica. There are the popular songs like Propellerheads' "Bang On!" or The Crystal Method's "Busy Child," while the Chemical Brothers and The Orb show off songs from previous albums. For fans of this style of music, it's a good assumption that they already own the albums these songs came from.
Unfortunately, the rare versions like Alec Empire's hideous remix of Bjork's "Joga" and a new version of the Sparks' "Beat the Clock" are not enough to solely make an investment in the CD.
