CAPITOL
"Music from 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'"
Various artists (Capitol)
You've seen the show. You love the show. You've bought its recently released companion book, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab 5's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better and Living Better." And you WILL become the best modern heterosexual male possible. (I swear, if I read or hear the word "metrosexual" again, I'm gonna gag -- that buzz word's got to go!)
And at 8 p.m. today on Bravo, the first of this season's new episodes (following last summer's smash debut) will air, as the guys meet the challenge to make over a New Jersey radio personality and strip club deejay.
But that's not enough. The marketing-powers-that-be want you to buy this, the first of what promises to be a "Perfect" series of show-related theme albums.
For a supposed music makeover primer, this is a pretty faboo collection of tunes. It opens with, of course, the show's theme song, "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" from the duo Wildlife, featuring the vocals of Simone Denny. It has that synth-driven, gay-house-anthem sound and is the only track that harkens back to the classic gay disco era.
(The CD is enhanced with a video of the song, directed by veteran Wayne Isham, that includes "culture vulture" Jai Rodriguez in a brief, choreographed dance scene. And the limited-edition CD not only includes the video, but also a making-of feature, music tips and picks from the Fab 5, the video to the Kylie Minogue contribution "Slow" and, what should be riotous, the "South Park Fab 5.")
Minogue's "Slow" gets an exclusive remix from another popular dance act, the Chemical Brothers, who add their trademark electronica flava. Other established artists who get the musical makeover include Duran Duran, whose "Sunrise," from an upcoming album, gets the Jason Nevins touch; and an almost unrecognizable Sting, with his "Never Coming Home" song receiving a "Gonna Live My Life Remix" from ROCAsound.
Other previously released and welcome tracks include "Good Luck," off Basement Jaxx's latest album "Kish Kash," and "Move Your Feet," the global dance hit from the Danish duo Junior Senior.
Label artists OK GO and Liz Phair chip in with "You're So Damn Hot" and "Extraordinary," respectively. The Chicago band's number is a sweet bit of electropop rock, while Phair's song, co-written with the hit team the Matrix, sounds especially suitable in this context: She's your "average, everyday, saint-psycho-super goddess."
But what musical makeover would be complete without the latest and hippest dance tracks? French singer InGrid does an English version of her emerging club hit "You Promised Me (Tu Es Foutu)," a bit of Eurodisco, complete with accordion. Rising British star Jamelia offers up a groovy "Superstar," and Brooklyn group Prophet Omega contributes the funky "An Area Big Enough to Do It In."
One of the more entertaining tracks is Los Angeles dance producer Barry Harris's "revamp," mixing elements of Billy Squier's classic '80s track "Everybody Wants You" with dance act Fischerspooner's "Emerge." "Everybody Wants You to Emerge" makes for a fun megamix.
The compilation ends with a 1979 Elton John track just re-released in the U.K. "Are You Ready for Love" came from an aborted and abbreviated session with legendary Philadelphia International writer-producer Thom Bell. It's a prime piece of Philly soul sung by one of its greatest fans (remember "Philadelphia Freedom"?) and ends the album on a good -- nay, FANTASTIC! -- note.
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