And now to drive a coach and horses through all my previous 'Eurodance one hit wonder acts' comments, here come Snap! with a second number one to prove me wrong. Though still in the dance genre, 'Rhythm Is A Dancer' is a different proposition to 'The Power', and rather a less interesting one at that. Based around the ubiquitous (in the early nineties anyway) bouncing piano riff, 'Rhythm' is classic Italian house crossed with a Europop mentality that, lacking the chorus drop-out gimmick of 'The Power', relies on its own rolling internal rhythm and Thea Austin's repeated "Lift your hands and voices, free your mind and join us. You can feel it in the air" message of nightlife hedonism.
It makes 'Rhythm' a tune for the clubs rather than pop for the bedroom and that's fine, but it's a style over substance product that was everywhere in the nineties - any Fantazia DJ would have played ten hours of this solid on a nightly basis and the only thing that makes 'Rhythm' stand out from the herd is another pedestrian Turbo B rap that stamps on the brakes with a "I'm serious as cancer when I say Rhythm is a dancer", a line so jarringly bad it ought to stop any rave in its tracks, switch on the lights and help the DJ pack away his turntables.
I'm pretty sure my comments on all this will draw howls of protest from those with fond memories of the era, and maybe they will have a point - I was no dedicated club goer at that time (too busy listening to Pixies and Throwing Muses in my bedroom for any of that) and so, having no such memories to pin it on, I'm forced to take 'Rhythm Is A Dancer' on its own merits. And on those it has to be stamped 'ordinary'.
No comments:
Post a Comment