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Album Review
by SaschaS
1-8-2002
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| Dirty Vegas by name but desert else |
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Dirty Vegas : 'Dirty Vegas'
(Parlophone)
Dirty Vegas show that Brits can crack USA
The world most lucrative music market – USA’s 250 million potential customers – hasn’t been a fertile ground for the Brit-artists over the past several years. Bush and Craig David had some success, Radiohead and Coldplay are well respected, Kylie’s done rather well recently, there is a buzz about Idlewild but in general…
That’s why it is more than ironic that the two biggest success stories in America were unknowns on the domestic stage. Dido’s sudden coup is now likely to be joined by Dirty Vegas’ eponymous debut album; both have had side help to dial superstardom, Eminem and TV signature tunes in Dido’s case, TV commercial and MTV in Dirty Vegas’ instance.
This south-London trio of Paul Harris, Steve Smith and Ben Harris, had a single out last year, ‘Days Go By’, that was championed on Radio 1’s Pete Tong programme but failed to capture the imagination of the nation. Then, it was picked up for a car commercial in the States and the Mitsubishi coupé Eclipse ad brought it to the attention of radio stations and MTV. On the back of it the ‘Dirty Vegas’ LP checked into the US chart last month at No. 7, the highest new entry since Kylie’s No. 3 and the only other Top 10 by another Brit-artist this year. (For comparison, Oasis’ ‘Heathen Chemistry’ peaked at the 23rd place!)
What threesome offer are well-crafted and sensible songs that are polite, catchy and calmly charming. The basis of Dirty Vegas’ music is house but it is a limiting label because there are so many other ingredients thrown into this soup, from electro-pop to mutated disco and soft rocking knaydlaich. (Not unlike Underworld, actually). From the opening cyber-salvo of ‘I Should Know’, via funky ‘Ghosts’, hypnotic ‘Throwing Shapes’ and beyond ‘Simple Things Pt 2’ (containing re-worked ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ by Pink Floyd), to the bonus track.
Getting success in the States is one thing but maintaining and improving upon it is another keg of beer and one needs to be prepared to tour until virtually exhausted. DV are doing it right now by supporting Moby’s current dates and it is easy to see why they’ll be huge Stateside. They are safe as houses and only enhance, rather than challenge, the way Americans like their music. The poor souls have had too much of aural terrorism…
7/10
SaschaS
25-9-2002
Dirty Vegas’ album ‘Dirty Vegas’ is released 05 August 2002 on Parlophone
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